"Custody plus" makes available within a prison sentence the presumed benefits of probation supervision that includes cognitive-behavioral programs, curfews, drug or alcohol treatment, compulsory community service, and other mandatory provisions. "Custody minus" involves all the aforementioned community supervision conditions but with a suspension of a prison sentence on the condition that the community-based conditions of the sentence are met. This chapter focuses on the difficulties of implementing such schemes that attempt to combine the possibility of both imprisonment and community supervision. Attention is given to the effects of these sentences on public confidence in the system, public protection, recidivism rates, and prison population growth. The difficulties of implementing these sentences include the obtaining and deployment of the resources required for meeting the various conditions of community-based supervision, the development of the capacity for coordinating the multiple services involved in such supervision, the matching of offenders to programs, and the effective operation of the programs to achieve the intended effects. The rationale for sentences that will reduce custody while achieving closely monitored programming in the community is laudable. It remains to be seen whether the complexities involved in implementing such sentences will be effectively managed. 8 notes and 17 references