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Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73

§4046 Shock incarceration program

Title 18 › Part PART III— - PRISONS AND PRISONERS › Chapter CHAPTER 303— - BUREAU OF PRISONS › § 4046

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Bureau of Prisons may put a person into a shock incarceration program if they were sentenced to more than 12 months but not more than 30 months in prison and they agree to go. For up to 6 months, the program requires a strict, military-style daily routine with physical training, hard work, drill and ceremony, plus job training, education (including reading help), and counseling for drug or alcohol problems. If the Director of the Bureau decides the person completed the program successfully, the person must stay in the Bureau’s custody for a period not to exceed the remainder of the prison term, and under whatever conditions the Bureau sets.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §4046

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Bureau of Prisons may place in a shock incarceration program any person who is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of more than 12, but not more than 30, months, if such person consents to that placement.
(b)For such initial portion of the term of imprisonment as the Bureau of Prisons may determine, not to exceed 6 months, an inmate in the shock incarceration program shall be required to—
(1)adhere to a highly regimented schedule that provides the strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, drill, and ceremony characteristic of military basic training; and
(2)participate in appropriate job training and educational programs (including literacy programs) and drug, alcohol, and other counseling programs.
(c)An inmate who in the judgment of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons has successfully completed the required period of shock incarceration shall remain in the custody of the Bureau for such period (not to exceed the remainder of the prison term otherwise required by law to be served by that inmate), and under such conditions, as the Bureau deems appropriate.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Authorization of Appropriations Pub. L. 101–647, title XXX, § 3002, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4915, provided that: “There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 1990 and each fiscal year thereafter such sums as may be necessary to carry out the shock incarceration program established under the

Amendments

made by this Act [see Tables for classification]”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 4046

Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73