The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) has one of the highest recidivism rates in the nation. That’s why its decision to close the Quehanna Boot Camp last month, the state prison with the lowest rate of recidivism and the highest rate of GED graduations, continues to deserve scrutiny.

On the homepage of the DOC website, one of the first sentences the DOC uses to describe its mission is: “Through educational opportunities and treatment programs, it prepares incarcerated individuals for a successful reentry back into the community.” The boot camp program includes a regular regimen of exercise and character-building programs that hold inmates accountable for their behavior and rewards them for good behavior.

The program’s success was so widely regarded that former Corrections Secr

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