Meeting at site of proposed pre-release center

Officials will hold an informational workshop Thursday to discuss the siting of a pre-release center in Kalispell.

The public meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 at the pre-release center's proposed location, the old Montana Department of Health and Human Services building at 2282 U.S. 93 South.

Residents will have the opportunity to learn about and comment on the project, officials said.

The meeting will be conducted by a local 12-member working committee, appointed jointly by the Kalispell City Council and Flathead County commissioners in January 2008.

Representatives from Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc. will attend the meeting. The Butte-based nonprofit was awarded the Montana Department of Corrections bid to operate the planned 40-bed facility in December.

The project will only proceed if community support exists for the proposed site, according to the Department of Corrections. After Thursday's meeting, the working committee is expected to commission an independent survey to gauge public opinion.

"We are in a position to benefit from 25 years of proven community pre-release successes across the state," said working committee chairman and local resident Steve Breck.

Residents will also have an opportunity to present formal testimony regarding the pre-release center at a March 10 public hearing before the Kalispell Planning and Zoning Board.

After the meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, the planning board will forward its recommendation to the city council, which will then act on the matter.

Zoning ordinances in Kalispell and Flathead County prevent the proposed pre-release center from being built in residential areas. In addition, the state has strict guidelines about how close to schools and parks a pre-release center can be placed.

But state requirements also require that zoning include access to city sewer and water and a limit on emergency response times. Pre-release center inmates generally aren't allowed to drive, requiring proximity to job centers and public transportation.

Community, Counseling and Correctional Services operates 12 detention or treatment facilities in three states, including pre-release centers for men and women in Butte, a juvenile detention center in Washington state, and the WATCH program for felony DUI offenders in Warm Springs.

"The activation of this program will be a win-win for the greater Kalispell area in that those offenders currently housed within the prison system will be afforded the opportunity and privilege to transition back into the mainstream upon their successful completion of all programming and treatment requirements," said Steve McArthur, Community, Counseling and Correctional Services' director of community correctional programs.

McArthur has said the nonprofit is prepared to spend about $2.5 million to get the old Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services building operational. Renovations would include the creation of office space, treatment rooms and living areas. An outbuilding to house laundry and food-service operations also would be built.

The Legislature has appropriated $1.9 million to fund a Kalispell pre-release center for its first year.

Besides housing offenders, the pre-release center will offer a variety of other programs and services - including anger management courses, batterers counseling, substance-abuse counseling, life-skills courses such as GED preparation, and cognitive restructuring counseling.

Pre-release centers hold prison inmates nearing the end of their sentences. They are designed to help inmates hold jobs and gradually re-enter communities under strict supervision. Some offenders, however, are sentenced directly to pre-release facilities.

A screening committee made up of city and county officials, law enforcement officers, community members, and Department of Corrections and pre-release center representatives would determine which offenders are accepted at the facility.

"These facilities offer an alternative to the direct release of some offenders from prisons to the community by providing these individuals an opportunity to receive continued treatment, education and job training, and assist them in transitioning to their community in a gradual, supervised manner," said Kerry Pribnow, the pre-release contract manager for the Department of Corrections.

Flathead County has about 1,300 people in the state corrections system - historically the fourth highest of any county in Montana. Lake and Lincoln counties contribute another 650 offenders.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com