50 Years After Starting “Scared Straight,” Former N.J. Prison Warden “Would Do It Again”
In a May 2024 interview about the “Scared Straight” program he founded 50 years earlier, former New Jersey prison warden Bob Hatrak, 83, dismissed research showing that the program actually has a counterproductive effect on juvenile participants, insisting he “would do it again.”
Sidelined by an accident from a dreamed-of baseball career, Hatrak joined the state Department of Corrections (DOC) in 1967, becoming the country’s youngest warden when he took the helm six years later at Rahway State Prison (now East Jersey State Prison) at age 34. The idea for “Scared Straight” came from prisoner Rick Rowe, who reportedly confessed to Hatrak concerns that his son would follow him to prison.
Hatrak allowed Rowe’s teenage son to visit, and life-sentenced prisoners spoke candidly about the harsh realities of prison life, trying to “scare” him from committing a crime – giving birth to “Scared Straight.” To his credit, the warden also pushed for more vocational training and supported a prisoner R&B group called The Escorts. He then formed the Rahway State Boxing Association, allowing light heavyweight contender James Scott Jr. to continue competing professionally while incarcerated.
After departing the prison in 1979, Hatrak moved to the Oregon DOC. Meanwhile “Scared Straight” spread to over 30 states and spawned two documentary films. But skepticism about the program’s claimed success rate—that 90% of juvenile participants remained crime-free—sparked more in-depth research, which eventually showed that teens completing the programs were more likely to commit a crime, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, June 2016, p.36.]
Additional source: New Jersey Monthly
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