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Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-102

§4046 Shock Incarceration Program

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

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Bureau of Prisons can put a prisoner who is sentenced to more than 12 but not more than 30 months into a shock incarceration program if the prisoner agrees. For up to 6 months the inmate must follow a strict, military‑style routine and take job and education programs (including literacy) and drug and alcohol counseling. If the Director of the Bureau of Prisons decides the inmate completed the program, the inmate stays in Bureau custody for up to the remainder of the sentence under 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

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102