TIFID, special use permit given OK
Montana Standard, 08/05/08
ANACONDA — The Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission approved a tax increment finance district and two special use permit applications for a corrections facility Tuesday.
The commission approved the formation of the Mill Creek tax increment finance district, which is intended to provide a funding mechanism for infrastructure and help spur development in the Mill Creek area.
Also, the commission approved two special use permits for a 144-bed corrections facility to operate outside of Anaconda.
Community, Counseling and Correctional Services of Butte is planning to build a facility for the START Program, which is currently an 80-bed program on the Montana State Hospital campus at Warm Springs. That building is slated for closure and the state Department of Corrections has asked for bids for a new building.
CCCS is participating in the bid process, and applied for two special use permits: One for land at the intersection of Montana Highways 48 and 287, and another for land near the Sky Haven Lodge property off of Highway 48. The former is the preferred site; the latter is an alternate.
The organization applied for permits for two sites in case there is a problem securing one of them for a new facility.
The START Program houses adult-male offenders who have violated the terms of their probation.
CCCS looks to build facility
Montana Standard, 7/23/08
ANACONDA — A Butte-based organization has applied for special use permits for two pieces of land in the county with the intent of using one of them for a new 144-bed corrections facility.
Community Counseling and Correctional Services has requested special use permits for the facility in two locations: Forty acres of ARCo-owned land at the northwest corner of Montana Highways 48 and 273 and its own property west of Highway 48 near Bowman Field.
Planning staff presented the applications to the county commission Tuesday; commissioners will vote on them at a future meeting. The county planning board unanimously recommended approval of the permits.
The ARCo-owned land is CCCS’s preferred site; the land near Bowman Field is an alternate location in case Superfund issues threaten to hold up the project, said Connie Daniels, county planning director.
“Because CCCS is on a very tight timeline they wanted a backup,” Daniels said.
CCCS officials were not at Tuesday’s meeting, but recently announced plans to build a new $14 million to $20 million facility to house the START program, which offers short-term placement for minimum-security male offenders who have violated their probation terms.
START is currently an 88-bed, CCCS-run program housed in a building on the Montana State Hospital campus that is slated for closure. The state Department of Corrections has requested proposals for a new location for the program; CCCS is assembling a plan to submit to the state in August.
Initially, CCCS presented plans for a new 118-bed facility for the program, but the special use permit applications call for a new 144-bed facility. Designs submitted with the permit applications show a layout similar to the Reintegrating Youthful Offenders building near Galen, also a CCCS-run program.
Currently, START employs about 35 people. CCCS officials have said that if the new facility is built, the organization would retain existing jobs and add about 25 new positions.
Corrections facility proposed
Montana Standard, 6/12/08
ANACONDA — A Butte-based organization plans to propose a new 118-bed corrections facility in Deer Lodge County, officials said this week.
Community Counseling and Corrections Services is assembling a proposal for a new $14 million to $20 million facility to house the START Program, executive director Mike Thatcher said.
START is short-term placement for minimum-security male adult offenders who have violated the terms of their probation.
“This is an intermediate program,” Thatcher told county commissioners Tuesday.
START, currently housed in a building on the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs campus, was started as a three-year pilot program in 2005 through a contract between the state Department of Corrections and CCCS. That contract is up in December and the building is slated for closure, potentially leaving 37 people without jobs.
“We’ve got an existing program with existing people,” Thatcher said. “If we don’t put something together, we’re going to lose them.” But if CCCS could build a new facility to house the START Program and meet state needs, it could not only retain existing jobs but add up to 25 new positions, he said.
The organization, in response to a proposal request from the state for a 118-bed facility, is putting together plans for a new building in the Anaconda area to house the program. Four sites are under consideration: Arco land in the Opportunity Triangle; property near the Sky Haven Lodge at the county airport; Arco land at Highway 48 and Galen Road; county property between the wastewater treatment and arbiter plants east of town.
The proposal is preliminary — location, financing and building design all remain to be resolved before the pitch is made official, Thatcher said. But even early in process, he is trying to rally community support.
“We need everybody’s help,” he said.
The idea garnered support from audience members at Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“The best jobs to attract and the best jobs to create are the ones you already have,” said Jim Davison, executive director of the Anaconda Local Development Corp.
Others agreed the jobs are vital.
“I would encourage continued support from the commission and chief executive,” said Rose Nyman, who is running for the commission.
County officials said the project would be appropriate use of either ARCo or county lands.
“It’s a great thing,” Chief Executive Rebecca Guay said. “The facility is already in the county. It saves jobs and it’s going to grow. It’s certainly an appropriate use for some of that land down there.” The state will issue a request for proposals this month, Thatcher said, and they will be due by late summer.
WATCh East improves lives as well as the economy
Glendive Ranger-Review,
5/4/08
As a community, we can either lift up or tear down. It is our choice; do we enable others to grow and regain their lives or deny that ability? In attending the Open House at WATCh East Thursday, I was pleasantly surprised by the attendance and the reception by the visitors, and the facility itself.
WATCh East is so important not only to those clients obtaining treatment, but also this community. Those who work or volunteer time at WATCh East see miracles happen every day. The residents there for treatment are gaining skills that were out of their reach before.
The public hearing Thursday evening was well attended and many came forward to express support for the program. Over and over, we heard these people need treatment, they are good people who have made some bad choices (like we all have), this community and all communities are safer with clients receiving help at WATCh East rather than sitting in a jail and then returning to communities across the state with not changing behavior or learning tools to make better decisions. The statement we heard over and over again was "this is a good program that needs to be expanded by 10 beds to better serve more of those who need the help." The space is available and is better served helping those who need treatment offered at this facility.
It was noted that the screening committee is doing a great job of making sure that no sec offenders or those with violent histories are allowed to enter the program. They are meeting often and it was noted that many more need treatment. Allowing 10 more beds would mean that more people are getting the help they need.
Not only does this change and improve lives, it is an economic boon for this community -- it has created 23 jobs -- and for the state in general. When someone is convicted of a fourth DUI, it is a felony and the sentence requires time spent in prison. Offenders learn nothing languishing in prison, bt when they are able to come to WATCh East, it costs the state half of what it would cost to put that person in prison -- it is a win win for all.
Some of the review meeting attendees mentioned many reasons why the program should be expanded. Some have lost relatives because they did not have this help available to them, some had family members who needed this help and lives have been saved. Others mentioned that they went to WATCh East weekly for Bible study, or AA, and see lives change, including their own. All who have contact with residents have appreciation for them and the growth they have seen come from all that is learned at this facility.
While visiting WATCh East, I read a statement that sums it all up, "No one can change their past, but anyone can start today and make a brand new future!" It is a privilege for the community of Glendive to help
WATCh East proposal supported
Glendive Ranger-Review,
5/4/08
Comments made by area residents at the May 1 public hearing to increase capacity at WATCh East were almost exclusively positive.
Based on current waiting lists and projections of growing demand the Montana Department of Corrections has made increasing the number of DUI treatment beds in the state a priority. Rick Deady, Treatment Contract Program Manager for the Adult Communities Correction Division at the Montana Department of Corrections, explained that the DOC proposes increasing capacity at WATCh East by 10 beds and at WATCh West in Warm Springs by 40 beds.
Although WATCh East Program Coordinator Deb Dion proposed several other changes to the administrative rules, capacity is the only issue being addressed at this time.
Lori Muller, who said she lived within sight of the facility, was the only person who spoke in opposition to the expansion. while she supports the program itself, she has been opposed to its location in the Hillcrest/Georgetown subdivision from the beginning, Muller said, citing safety concerns. Muller also disapproved of the methods used in the DOC's survey on the capacity issue. She and several other Hillcrest residents did not receive surveys at all, and some people chose not to return them because the surveys were identified by residents' names rather than numbers. In the future, Muller suggested that the DOC use a neutral third party to administer the survey.
According to Deady, the DOC sent out 430 surveys, 215 to homes in the subdivision and 215 to other homes in Glendive. Two-hundred sixteen surveys were returned, of which 201 were in favor of the proposal and 15 against. People who have not yet returned the surveys have until May 15 for their comments to be considered. Comments made on the surveys will be compiled and presented to the Glendive City Council, Deady said.
Eight people in attendance spoke in favor of increasing capacity at WATCh East. Each one cited the obvious need for the program as a factor in their support. "Eastern Montana deserves a facility like this and deserves an expansion to fit the need of the people," Pat Mischel stated. "If (the need) is not met, the devastation to the community and to family members is just terrible," Bob Anderson added.
Other supporters pointed out that only nonviolent offenders are accepted at WATCh East. "These are good people that made some bad choices, as we all do," noted Deb Mooer.
Bob Ackerman spoke in favor not only of the treatment program itself, but also its economic impact on the community, pointing out that it provides good jobs with benefits to area residents.
The Department of Corrections will accept written comments on the rule change until 5 p.m. May 15. Interested parties should send comments to Myrna Omholt-Mason, 1539 11th Ave., P.O. Box 201301, Helena, MT 59602-1301.
Hearings Examiner Brenda Elias said a final decision can be expected within one month of that date.
Open house and tour offered a glimpse at Facility
Glendive Ranger-Review,
5/4/08
In an open house which preceded the hearing, WATCh East Security Coordinator Patty Smith explained that there are already 50 beds in the building, so increasing capacity actually will not require any construction. If capacity is increased, the facility will hire an additional counselor, she stated.
The counseling staff currently consists of a clinic supervisor, two counselors, and two counselor technicians. Security personnel will not be increased, Smith said, as there are already at least two security members on duty at all times. On weekends when there are fewer members of the treatment staff at WATCh, there are three to four security people on duty.
There are currently 16 men and 22 women in treatment at the facility. Participants live two to three in a room, each of which has its own bathroom. There are separate men's and women's wings, each with day rooms for relaxation. The facility also includes a cafeteria, classrooms, and indoor and outdoor recreation areas.
The comprehensive six-month program is more effective than the typical 20-day program, Smith said, noting that many WATCh participants have already been through other, shorter programs. One current participant echoed her sentiments, saying, "I've been there, and now I'm here."
Clients at WATCh East have the opportunity to take classes for college credit or to obtain a GED. Instructors from Dawson Community College teach a life skills class and six workshop classes that earn participating clients certificates in Career Development and Life Management. Smith feels those classes give participants the skills and confidence they need to re-integrate into communities after treatment.
Other area groups, including Dawson County Domestic Violence and local ministers, also provide support to the program.
WATCh support encouraged
Glendive Ranger-Review,
4/24/08
Editor:
My name is R.J. Koerper and recently I wrote a letter to the community of Glendive both communicating to them the impact that the WATCh treatment program there had on me, as well as thanking them for embracing the facility and their mission. I completed the six month treatment regimen in December of 2006.
I understand that May 1 the citizens of Glendive will have the opportunity to publicly voice their opinions about some proposed changes in the treatment at WATCh that will affect the surrounding community. Specifically the proposed changes are as follows:
1. Increasing capacity to 10 beds.
2. Allowing visitors to drive to the facility rather than being transported from City Hall.
3. Family members being allowed to wear civilian clothing during their last phase.
4. Family members being allowed to leave the facility supervised to attend outside recovery meetings in their last phase and/or to leave the facility to participate in "pay it forward" community projects such as cleanup day, etc.
As an alumnus of the program I wanted to write and offer my support for those proposed changes. The waiting list for a treatment program such as WATCh will only grow longer sadly to say. Montana is one of the few states that recognizes that DUI offenders need treatment rather than just incarceration. The program not only needs to continue but also to grow to be able to treat as many as possible. The other three proposals are based on the assumption that the transition from the program to the society needs to be more gradual so that a more "normal" lifestyle can be resumed. Let me explain.
One of the most difficult issues that I faced when I graduated from the program was that I left a very closed structured system to one that was open and very different. That transition was extremely difficult for me, and I know for many others who had gone through the program. A small example: at WATCh everyone wore the same colors and the same types of clothes, depending on the phase they were in, right up until they left. In the proposed change, family members can wear civilian clothing during their last phase.
It may seem like a small change, but in reality it is significant...it is part of helping the members to more effectively transition back into society, and is preparing them for that. That is huge.
Likewise, to be able to attend recovery meetings such as AA in the area will help to develop a lifestyle outside the facility in continuing their recovery in a setting that is not directly connected with WATCh. For me personally, getting connected to my home group in Billings was the single biggest thing that has helped me maintain my sobriety. The community service opportunity would be very beneficial because it would create a win/win scenario for members of the city and for the WATCh family. Service work is inherent in 12-step recovery programs, the city benefits with clean up and improvement projects, and again the family member is being encouraged to live a more productive lifestyle. I had a terrific opportunity to "pay it forward" after I graduated. After returning to Billings, I still had 60 hours of community service as part of my sentence.
Through Providence, I was given the opportunity to work with the Montana Rescue Mission and create for them a significant part of their transitional program, the Brotherhood, which helps residents to move back into the society from the mission. A considerable part of what I did for them was based on what I had received when I went through the WATCh program. The principles I learned at WATCh are very transferable into other venues. To be able to pay it forward while still in the program is a great way to provide feedback and encouragement to live more productively upon graduation.
When the citizens of Glendive meet on May 1 to voice their opinions, I hope they will embrace these proposed changes, changes which I believe will make the treatment at WATCh that much more effective, because it will allow for a better transition back into living a productive and healthy normal lifestyle. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
R.J. Koerper, WATCh graduate
Billings, Mont.
Community shows support for WATCh East
Glendive Ranger-Review,
4/24/08
Residents of the Georgetown/Hillcrest community and other areas of Glendive have shown overwhelming support for the proposal to expand the WATCh East felony DUI program from 40 to 50 beds.
According to Rick Deady, Treatment Contract Program manager for the Adult Communities Correctional Division at the Montana Department of Corrections, 95 percent of responses to the surveys which were mailed to 215 residents of the Georgetown/Hillcrest subdivision and an equal number of general Glendive residents have been positive.
Last week Deady told the Glendive City Council he was pleased with the community’s response to the survey, pointing out that the 46 percent return rate was well above what is considered successful by statistics experts. The survey form also left room for comments, which will be compiled in a final report for city officials.
Mayor Jerry Jimison relayed several concerns he had heard from area residents about the survey, questioning why it was not conducted by a neutral third party and why some Georgetown/Hillcrest residents did not receive it. Deady said the survey had been conducted according to the Administrative Rules of Montana, which do not require a third party for surveys in this situation. In situations which do require surveys to be administered by a third party, the cost is very high, he added. Those who were missed by the mailing were simply overlooked, he explained, saying, “It was, I believe, just an honest mistake of going through a long list.” Five residents who had contacted the DOC were mailed surveys last week. Any residents of the subdivision who did not receive the survey, should contact the DOC at 444-3930, said Deady.
Community members will also have the opportunity to make comments and ask questions about the expansion at a public hearing to be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 1 at the Dawson County Courthouse. Deady urged people to attend, saying, “(WATCh East) is a partnership with the city of Glendive and the community of Glendive.”
WATCh East Program Coordinator Deb Dion was pleased with the results. “I think it validates what I’ve been saying, that this is a good program,” she said.
The facility will host an open house preceding the public hearing on May 1 from 3-5 p.m. Staff and program participants will be on hand to answer questions and give tours of the facility. Coffee, cookies and punch will be served. “I want people to have a chance to see the program... I just think the more that people can get educated about treatment... they can better understand why it is beneficial. It does benefit public safety to treat people rather than just incarcerate them,” Dion added.
Support WATCh
Glendive Ranger-Review, 4/24/08
Letter to Editor:
My name is Jeff Rahr. I am writing today to ask the community of Glendive for its support in the matter of expanding the capacity for the WATCh East Program. Watch East is a program setup by the Montana Department of Corrections for felony DUI offenders. This program was established so that offenders could be rehabilitated instead of being jailed in an already defective jail system. The program will show us how to take responsibility for our actions and become a more productive citizen in our community. We are not violent individuals. We are people from across Montana who have made some serious mistakes in our lives. I have been a member of this community for over 45 years. This program has given me a chance to be close to my family while making a transition to a better and more healthy lifestyle. I believe this program would be a benefit to all of us here in eastern Montana.
The DOC is asking to add 10 more members to this program bringing it to 50 members. DOC will be conducting
an informal meeting on this matter on May 1 at the Community Room. I would really appreciate your support.
This program could make a real difference for someone you know or possibly someone in your family. I would
be happy to respond to any concerns or comments. Please contact me at Jeff Rahr, 700 East Little St.,
Glendive, Mont. 59330.
Sincerely,
Jeff Rahr
WATCh East looks to expand
Glendive Ranger-Review, 3/27/08
Rick Deady, Treatment Contract Program Manager for the Adult Communities Correctional Division at the Montana Department of Corrections, visited with city and county officials on March 18 to discuss increasing capacity at the WATCh East felony DUI treatment facility.
Deady met with the Glendive City Council, the Dawson County commissioners, District Judge Richard Simonton, the Public Defender’s office, and Sen. Don Steinbeisser to discuss expanding capacity from 40 to 50 beds, which requires an amendment to the Administrative Rules of Montana. All of those individuals signed formal letters of support.
According to Deady, the Department of Corrections has seen a clear need for more space in treatment facilities within the state and hopes to expand capacity at both WATCh East and the WATCh West program in Warm Springs, currently a 108-bed facility, by a total of 50 beds. As a felony DUI carries a 13-month sentence and the treatment program is six months long, some offenders are turned away because their sentences would expire before treatment was complete, he explained.
WATCh East screens clients carefully, giving preference first to women and then to men from Eastern Montana. The program does not accept violent or sex offenders. “We absolutely have to look at the capacity issue... These are people who need help with alcoholism and can’t get it. We sit here with space for more people but we can’t take any more people because we are limited by the current ARM,” WATCh East Program Coordinator Deb Dion wrote in a letter proposing the changes.
Surveying local government officials, including city and county governing bodies, law enforcement personnel, the city and county attorney, and state legislators, is the first step in expanding or modifying the administrative rules. Following meetings with those groups, a representative survey must also be made of the Glendive community as a whole and of the Hillcrest and Georgetown subdivisions specifically. Deady said the department should mail out surveys within the next few weeks. If the meetings and surveys demonstrate public support, the department will then conduct a public hearing to amend the rules.
Dion proposed several other changes to the administrative rules, including greater use of outside areas with the facility’s ten-foot fence and allowing participants in the final phase of treatment to wear their own clothing as part of the transition back to their normal lives, a perk already allowed at WATCh West.
Currently, the Department is only discussing expanding capacity. Although the other rule changes may be examined in the future, Deady said having more space for treatment is seen as the greatest priority.
More than 267 people have completed the six month program at WATCH East. Only two have ever been convicted of another DUI, a 99 percent success rate. In three years, no program participant has escaped or attempted to escape. Random breathalyzer and urinary analysis test have never turned up positive for substances, and there have been zero acts of violence.
Dion concluded her proposal by saying, "We have been a good neighbor and ask for these changes so we can expand our positive contributions to the community and increase public safety by providing treatment, which improves the lives of the participants and their families. When people get treatment for their addictions, it makes Montana a safer place for everyone."
State's community correction program is working
by Brian Schweitzer
Great Falls Tribune, 3/10/08
Somebody had to say enough is enough.
Montana had the nation's sixth highest growth in prison population in both 2003 and 2004.
According to the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average annual growth in Montana's prison population in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 was 5.5 percent.
That was nearly three times the national average during that period (1.9 percent).
Previously the solution was to pour more concrete and buy more barbed wire. I knew there had to be a better way — a way that saves taxpayers money and helps those felons who can be rehabilitated get back on their feet, while still keeping the hard criminals behind bars.
So when I took office in 2005, I invested in community corrections. We have created 172 more prerelease beds in the past three fiscal years, 120 meth treatment beds were added in 2007, a 40-bed DUI treatment center opened in Glendive in 2005, and 155-bed facility opened for women in Billings, featuring a prerelease center, chemical dependency treatment program, and an assessment and sanction center.
Now the report card is in.
Late last week, Montana received some very positive news. A study from The Pew Charitable Trusts showed Montana leading all 50 states in the decrease of the number of incarcerated people last year.
The nation's overall prison population grew by 1.6 percent in 2007, while Montana's number fell 3.9 percent.
Montanans can be proud of our efforts to protect public safety, hold people accountable and help folks deal with addiction problems, mental illness or whatever is at the root of their criminal behavior.
Montana's achievement is the result of an innovative plan to increase alternatives to prison.
We have nearly 9,000 offenders on probation and parole and, every day, they continue their efforts to remain law-abiding and productive citizens.
Supervising an offender on probation or parole costs about $4 per day, compared with as much as $80 a day to keep an inmate in prison.
A recent University of Montana study showed that among the offender population in Montana, 46 percent have a mental illness and a staggering 93 percent have a substance abuse problem or a chemical dependency.
The goal of many of the new programs is to provide the kind of individualized treatment that will work at reducing the number of repeat offenders.
In 2006, Montana had 3,572 people behind bars. At the beginning of 2008, that number had gone down to 3,431. My goal and the goal of the Department of Corrections is to reserve prison cells for 20 percent of our most dangerous felons and manage the remaining 80 percent in some kind of community program.
Underlying all this is the need to maintain public safety and offender accountability.
Community corrections is allowing us to do just that and save the Montana taxpayers money.
Montana can be proud of our efforts to create a corrections system that is smart, efficient and effective in protecting public safety, ensuring offenders are accountable for their crimes and help them overcome addictions, mental health problems and lives dominated by crime.
Enough was enough.
Transition residents create necklaces
Bismarck Tribune, 12/17/2007
'Tis the season to be jolly. The Christmas season is a time of giving, and a time of showing what the holiday season is truly about.
This holiday season the Bismarck Transition Center, a halfway house for convicted felons, had a group of men dedicate their personal time to provide necklaces for those in need of a Christmas gift.
Anthony Matthews led the way for this group, consisting of William Feltus, Jay Billof, Mike Leonard, Terrance Schneider, Joe Goodin and Loren Sayler. Their holiday spirit motivated them to take part in making necklaces for the community. Matthews got everything started by providing the supplies and the rest of the group contributed their efforts.
The inspiration, Matthews said, came from the spirit of Christmas. "It's Christmas time, and this is our way to give back to the community," he said. The group spent a total of 40 hours to make enough necklaces to be given out.
Many necklaces were made and each will be given to someone in the community who needs something for the Christmas season, said Jessica Messmer, the work release coordinator at the Bismarck Transition Center.
The first group of necklaces will go to foster children, who will receive their necklaces at a Christmas party. The rest will be given to other community members that need something for Christmas, such as the Abused Adult Resource Center.
This isn't the first time the Bismarck Transition Center has had residents involved with gift giving. Last December, several of the residents used their money to buy toys for kids. And the same thing is happening this year with the residents. Some donate money and others contribute their time, said Messmer.
Besides the group of necklace makers, there were other providers for the necklaces. Claire's, Walkers n' Daughters Jewelers and Wal-Mart all donated boxes for storing the necklaces and taking them to the recipients.
The whole group said the necklaces are a gesture that made them feel good and proud.
CCCS a constant stroll participant
Montana Standard, 11/29/07
Since the Christmas Stroll began 17 years ago, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the community event has been Community Counseling and Correctional Services.
"We've been with the Stoll since its inception," said Mike Thatcher, head of CCCS, located in Uptown Butte. "We volunteer our time and love it. It's our chance to act like little kids."
Part of that fun is buying lots of toys for Butte's boys and girls, from basketballs to grand prize giveaways of bicycles, dolls and more. The business picks up the entire tab for the event it stages at 111 W. Broadway.
Fun begins at around 6 pm.m and goes until CCCS has given out all its toys and prizes; grand prizes are drawn the next day and winners notified.
"We try to do anything we can to make it a wonderful evening for families," Thatcher added. Part of making the night special for kids and their families includes horseback rides, games, face-painting and free goodies, from cookies to cocoa and coffee and pop.
There are also free pictures with Santa and letters to Santa can be written as well.
CCCS residents, along with staff and board members, all help out, said Ann Watson, executive assistant at CCCS. "They really enjoy doing this," she said of the event which requires set up and clean up, as well as staging events for the hundreds of people that come to the agency.
"This is a small gesture on our part as an active member of the community," said Thatcher, who helps shop for the toys taken home by Butte's children. "This is my favorite event and it is for many of the staff and board members."
The collaborative effort involves bringing horses to the Uptown where kids can get a ride under a covered garage.
The kitchen staff at CCCS stays busy too, baking up some 3,000 cookies for the big night.
One of the more original contests CCCS sponsors is the basketball toss where two baskets are set up -- one for small children and another adult-sized basket -- and those who sink a basket get to keep a basketball. The event continues until the basketballs stash is depleted.
"We're just hoping the weather stays warm (that evening)," Watson added.
CCCS
plans new treatment center in old motel
Montana Standard, 11/28/07
A correctional services company is proposing to move a chemical dependency treatment program from the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs campus to a former motel outside of town.
Community, Counseling and Correctional Services of Butte has applied for a special use permit to operate a 50-bed, 60-day treatment facility at the former Skyhaven Lodge, just off Montana Highway 43 between Anaconda and Warm Springs.
“This is conditional on the (state) Department of Corrections’ needs,” said Mike Thatcher, executive director of CCCS, which operates correctional and treatment programs for youth and adult offenders through government contracts.
County planning staff and planning board members have recommended approval of the permit; the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission will make the final vote this month.
CCCS bought the Skyhaven Lodge and 37 surrounding acres, which are near a rural airport, about three years ago. The special use permit would allow CCCS to move Connections West — a drug and alcohol treatment program for adult males — from the Warm Springs campus to the 10-unit motel.
The company’s plans call for a $1.4 million renovation to the building.
CCCS likely needs to relocate the program because of a renovation project at Warm Springs, Thatcher said.
If all goes as planned, CCCS would expand its programs remaining at the Warm Springs campus to retain jobs there, and add about 25 new jobs at Connection West’s new location, Thatcher said. CCCS employs 540 people in Montana, about 10 percent in the Anaconda area.
The program would accept people who have been court-mandated to receive treatment, and who following their stays at the facility would enter pre-release centers.
In addition to support from planning officials, the proposal has received a thumbs-up from members of the Airport Authority Board.
“The main interest for the board was security and the effect the center would have at the airport,” John McKenna, board chairman, wrote in a February 2007 letter to commissioners. “We feel that our questions were answered and the main concerns laid to rest.” Thatcher emphasized that the project is reliant upon the long-term need to move the program and the Department of Corrections’ demands for services.
WATCh East boasts 99 percent
success rate
Ranger Review, 11/11/07
After almost three successful years of programming, WATCh East program coordinator Deb Dion said she would like to see some changes to the Administrative Rules of Montana governing the facility.
Dion presented a progress report to the Dawson County Commissioners and the Glendive City Council Nov. 6.
Since WATCh East opened in February 2005, more than 267 people have completed the six-month addictions treatment program. Only two of those individuals have been convicted of another DUI, a 99 percent success rate. More than 73 percent of people who finished the program are in compliance with all aspects of their probation, which varies from two to five years in length. Driving, buying a vehicle, alcohol use of any kind and not reporting to a probation officer are examples of probation violations.
Dion was pleased with the facility’s record. “We’ve been open almost three years. I think we’ve got a good track record and we deserve what we’re asking for,” she said. Dion is asking for several changes in the Administrative Rules of Montana, which she believes could provide additional benefits to clients and to the community.
First, the facility would like to increase the facility’s capacity from 40 to 42 participants. In the long term, Dion would like to see that capacity increased to 50 clients, the planned capacity of the building. Demand for the program has been steady, and there is a waiting list for enrollment. No additional staff would be necessary to increase the capacity by two, though if the facility succeeds in bringing its numbers up to 50, that is one aspect that will have to be examined.
Second, WATCh East would like to be able to use the outside areas within its fence rather than just the small courtyard. Dion suggested that client work crews under staff supervision could also do clean-up projects around town.
Currently, the administrative rules state that participants must wear easily identifiable clothing. On admission, clients wear red scrubs and eventually graduate to a red polo shirt with jeans. Dion would like to allow participants in the final phase of treatment to wear their own clothing as part of the transition back to their normal lives. This is a perk already allowed by the Warm Springs program, she said.
Another minor adjustment desired by the program’s administration is to allow approved visitors to drive themselves to the facility rather than requiring them to use transportation provided by a contractor. This would free the staff member responsible for transportation to do other things and facilitate transport of disabled visitors. Dion said that the facility has not had any problems with visitors.
Finally, Dion would like to screen for an inmate worker position. Inmate workers are utilized by all of the pre-release and other treatment programs in the state. They are subject to the same rules and conditions as program clients but earn a wage for a 40-hour work week. This worker would assist with outside maintenance and mowing, and in the facility kitchen.
To expand or modify the administrative rules, WATCh East must document the public support of a majority of public officials, including city and county governing bodies, law enforcement personnel, the city and county attorney, and state legislators. A representative survey must also be made of the Glendive community and of the Hillcrest and Georgetown subdivisions. If public support is documented, the department may then conduct a public hearing to amend the rules.
The Glendive City Council and the Dawson County Commissioners both reacted positively to the progress report and to the proposed changes.
Dion said the community at large has been tremendously supportive of the program. WATCh East has partnered with Dawson Community College for a General Education Development instructor who teaches five days a week. In January the first client successfully attained his GED diploma, boosting interest in those classes. DCC also provides instructors for a Life Skills class and for six workshop classes that earn participating clients certificates in Career Development and Life Management. The exchange is advantageous for the college as well as for the facility, because WATCh East clients are counted as full-time enrolled students.
Dawson County Domestic Violence has also committed to providing facilitators to the program. They will lead support groups for survivors of abuse twice per month.
Dion said five local ministers provide church services on a rotating basis, and Neville and Joan Peterson provide weekly spiritual counseling.
No program participant has escaped or attempted escape. In random breathalyzer and urinary analysis tests, no client has tested positive for substances. In room checks, staff has never found tobacco, drugs, or alcohol. There have been no acts of violence. Dion concluded her proposal by saying, “We have been a good neighbor and ask for these changes so we can expand our positive contribution to the community and increase public safety by providing treatment, which improves the lives of the participants and their families, while making Montana a safer place for all of us.”
Carole Kovacich, Advocate
for youth, poor
Montana Standard, 10/17/07
Anaconda - If Carole Kovacich's career had a motto, it would be: It won't make money, but it's the right thing to do.
That philosophy propels - and sometimes carries - Kovacich through her work as director of a local youth home and a food bank.
"I just like these kids," Kovacich, 62, said of her work at Discovery House. "I like working with them. They have lots of potential that nobody's even looked at."
An Anaconda native, Kovacich has a long history advocating for the community's youth and its poor.
She was religious education coordinator for Anaconda Catholic Community 25 years before becoming co-director of Discovery House, a project spearheaded by Sister Gilmary Vaughan.
When the nun fell ill, Kovacich took over not only Discovery House, but the local food bank.
She tackles social plight with the steadfastness of an army general, her determination strengthened as the battle rages.
Last year, Discovery House spiraled into a budget disaster and Kovacich rallied the community to save the house. Eventually, her call for help reached Community, Counseling and Correctional Services of Butte, which agreed to take the program temporarily under its financial wing.
True to form, Kovacich quickly disperses credit that comes her way.
It's the community that saves Discovery House," she said. "It's the community that saves the food bank. It's not one person."
But friends say Kovacich's trademark leadership and perseverance are the reasons community assets remain intact.
She has given of her self completely to her family, her community and her work," Anaconda residents Jim and Carole Davison wrote in a Women of Distinction nomination. She has fought hard to keep Discovery House open and to help the youth of southwest Montana."
The mother of three grown daughters, Kovacich said she sometimes envisions retirement, but won't seriously entertain the idea until Discovery House's future is secure.
"I'm going to stick around until this is worked through...and Discovery House will go on long after I'm gone," she said, laughing heartily as she disclosed having planned little for retirement.
"I've never had a pension plan and I've never thought about it," she said. "God always took care of me. We will never be rich in monetary things, but I am rich in everything else."
Governor praises new meth center as an
answer to a
corrections problem
Lewistown News-Argus, 6/4/07
Lewistown residents see the new Nexus methamphetamine treatment center as contributing to economic development while Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-Mont.) sees it as an answer to a corrections problem.
That’s what the governor told a crowd of more than 100 who attended a grand opening ceremony Wednesday morning at the center, located at Lewistown Municipal Airport.
Schweitzer said that when he took over as governor two years ago, Montana’s corrections population was growing at a faster rate than any other state.
“I asked why this was happening and I found we were just warehousing people,” said Schweitzer. He said he discovered that people were going into the system, staying a while, being let out and then returning to the system.
“We hadn’t treated the underlying cause. Meth is one of the most addictive drugs there is, worse than anything else,” he said. “We knew it would take more money to reform the system but if we don’t spend it, we will eventually have more people in the Big House than we have out of the Big House.”
Schweitzer headlined a group of speakers that included Sen. Jim Peterson (R-Buffalo); Lewistown City Manager Kevin Myhre; Airport Board Chairman Darryl McKenzie; Kathie A. Bailey, executive director of Snowy Mountain Development Corp.; and others. Mike Thatcher, chief executive officer of Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc., acted as master of ceremonies.
CCCS is the Butte-based firm that built the $10 million center and is operating it for the Montana Department of Corrections.
The governor set the theme for the ceremony by thanking the people of Lewistown for supporting the construction of a meth treatment center here and thanking Montanans for allowing the state “to be on the cutting edge of corrections policy.”
He even praised the Legislature, members of which he had criticized harshly when the Legislature was in session. He said they “did well in 90 and 5 days.” He was referring to the fact the Legislature reconvened for a five-day special session to approve the state budget and other bills.
“Montana is on the move,” said Schweitzer. “And you are feeling it here in Lewistown as much as anywhere else. When I get back to Helena I am going to tell them you filled the gym for this event.”
The speeches, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony, were held in the new facility’s gymnasium.
Two-time convicted meth offenders being held in other areas of the state’s penal system are to begin arriving here on Friday. Only those approved by a Lewistown screening committee will be allowed to come.
“We have said to Montanans and to the people all over America we are willing to try something new – we are willing to stake out a new course,” said the governor.
Thatcher, in remarks following the governor’s, said this was the third grand opening of a community corrections center he has attended since Schweitzer became governor “and this speaks volumes about (the governor’s) commitment to corrections programs.”
In introducing Peterson, Thatcher said “Jim was a stalwart in the whole process. He was critical to getting this project approved. The notable thing about it was that it had bipartisan support. Everyone embraced the idea that we need to do treatment (of meth offenders).”
Peterson, as a member of the House in the previous Legislature, carried the bill that allowed this type of meth treatment in Montana. Several who spoke Wednesday credited Peterson’s work to pass that bill as paving the way for the Lewistown meth treatment center.
“A little over four years ago, this process began. I recall a lot of meetings and a lot of conversations and a lot of phone calls. It required a change in the law,” said Peterson. “And while I carried the bill that changed the law it was all of you who made this center possible with your trips to Helena, your letters and petitions and your other efforts.
“When we started this in 2003 and 2004, more than 400 people a year were being sentenced into Montana’s criminal corrections system for drugs and a high percentage of those were meth addicts,” Peterson said.
The Buffalo Republican said the 80-bed Lewistown center is the first treatment center of its kind in the United States. He said this center is for men only. A similar facility for women has been constructed at Boulder.
“I hope you are proud of it. It is too bad that we have to have it, but we do need it,” said Peterson. “They (the patients) will finally get the treatment they need. They will be in here nine months.”
Peterson and others noted that not every community in Montana has welcomed correctional facilities. They continually praised Lewistown for the support it gave in bringing the meth center here.
John Hertel, chairman of the Fergus County Port Authority, said his organization was instrumental in bringing the meth center to Lewistown. He said Port Authority board members initially wanted it because of the jobs it would bring and the other economic benefits.
“But when it got going and took off, they also became involved in wanting to provide a center that would help meth addicts,” said Hertel.
“On behalf of the Port Authority, I just want to say this is truly a grand day, a grand day for the state, for Lewistown, for Fergus County and for all of you. We’ve worked for this for a long time. I am absolutely elated by it,” Hertel said.
Thatcher read letters supporting the center from Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and a representative of Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) read a letter from him.
Thatcher also handed out awards to several individuals including Tim Robertson, CEO of Century Co., the prime contractor, and Bret Birdwell of Birdwell Builders, subcontractor.
Thatcher said the contractors had done a “phenomenal” job but apologized that the landscaping around the building was not completed.
“The landscaping isn’t done yet,” Thatcher said, “because it has been raining in Lewistown for several days.”
Meth treatment center in Lewistown
ready to
open
Associated Press, Posted in the Missoulian
on 5/29/07
LEWISTOWN - The first 14 patients at a new 80-bed, $10 million methamphetamine treatment center are scheduled to arrive here Friday.
"This is the culmination of four years of trying to put together a program that's new and exciting," said Mike Thatcher, chief executive officer of Community Counseling and Correctional Services of Butte, which contracted with the state to build and run the facility.
An open house at the Nexus Correctional Program is planned Wednesday.
The Nexus program will offer a highly structured, nine-month treatment program for meth addicts convicted of crimes, seeking to change their thinking and lifestyle, Thatcher said.
"We'll be dealing with people who have intensively and extensively abused this drug, and the majority of the research suggests that they will be suffering greater cognitive defects," he said.
Structure is important because meth addicts tend not to have it, said program administrator Don Schroeder.
"They've been staying up all night, using crystal meth and alcohol, living moment to moment," Schroeder said. "This structure gives them a model for the way they're going to have to start living their lives responsibly."
Thatcher said patients will undergo daily group therapy, substance abuse counseling and counseling to deal with other issues such as domestic violence, anger management and grief and loss.
"With crystal meth, you pretty much destroy all the people around you," Schroeder said.
The program will also focus on job skills and life skills from doing laundry to going back to school.
"Parenting classes are critical because a lot of these people have kids and we want them to be responsible parents," Schroeder said.
About the only free time in the week will be Sunday afternoon, when families can visit.
After nine months of intensive learning, the patients will graduate.
"Most of these guys have met with failure in everything they have ever tried - school, family, relationships and jobs - so we celebrate all the successes we can," said Schroeder. "And we hope they'll be successful when they leave this program."
Graduation will be followed by six months in a prerelease center, Thatcher said.
Corrections officials say the center is expected to add 12 men per week and be full by late July.
Elkhorn Treatment Center, the women's meth treatment center in Boulder opened in April and has filled about half of its beds, officials said. Boyd Andrew Community Services of Helena built and is operating the women's center under a contract with the state.
Facility
is for just those in corrections system
Great Falls Tribune,
5/29/07
Since the Nexus Treatment Program is run by the Department of Corrections, its clientele will be limited.
"And that's my major frustration," said Mike Thatcher of Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, which will be running the program. "I can't imagine the number of people who need treatment but haven't been through the corrections system yet."
Thatcher said 80 percent to 90 percent of the inmates at the pre-release centers, transitional centers and juvenile detention centers that CCCS operates admit an addiction to meth, frequently in conjunction with other drugs and alcohol.
"People who need treatment either have to be able to pay for it privately or they won't get it without going to prison," he noted.
And it doesn't make sense to wait until the problem is so severe that a person has to be imprisoned, he added.
"From a taxpayer's standpoint, there are savings to providing those services earlier," Thatcher said. "You can either pay for it now or pay for it later, after years of a criminal lifestyle."
There's no clear picture of the unmet need for meth treatment, said Jackie Jandt of the state's Chemical Dependency Bureau.
She cited figures from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which did household telephone surveys and estimated that 9.4 percent of Montana's population needed treatment for alcoholism in the past year and didn't receive it, while another 2.8 percent needed treatment for drug addiction in the past year and didn't receive it.
But she cautioned that those figures are probably understated. "Why would anyone admit to using illicit drugs to someone who called on the phone to ask?" she wondered.
So the message is clear to her.
"We're not even meeting basic treatment needs," said Jandt. "There are waiting lists for people who need to get into treatment for everything, including alcohol."
She also said health officials are learning that meth requires long-term treatment.
The health department equivalent to Nexus is the Montana Chemical Dependency Center in Butte, which doesn't focus on meth treatment.
"Alcohol continues to be the state's drug of choice so that's our focus, followed by pot and then by opiates, things like Oxycontin, cocaine, heroin and methadone," said MCDC Director Dave Peshek.
MCDC has done away with the standard 30-day treatment program and now keeps patients until they complete an individualized treatment plan.
"We plan for about 45 days of treatment, and our average length of stay is 38 days," said Peshek.
But MCDC has actually seen a decline in the number of meth addicts it has been treating, he said.
"It has dropped pretty significantly," Peshek said. "When we started, it used to be 22-23 percent of our clientele. Now it's down around 17-18 percent."
And he said success rates don't appear to be appreciably different for methamphetamine or other drugs.
Lewistown treatment center to open
Great Falls Tribune, 5/29/07
Next week, Montana's first treatment center for methamphetamine — a $10 million, 80-bed facility — opens its doors.
"This is the first time in my correctional career that all parties have agreed that what we've been doing just isn't working, so we have to do something new," said Mike Thatcher, chief executive officer of Community Correctional and Counseling Services in Butte, whose agency will be running the treatment center.
Forty-four employees have been hired, and all but half a dozen have been successful in finding housing.
Employees of the Nexus Correctional Program have taxed the local housing market, program administrator Don Schroeder told the Fergus County Port Authority last week.
He also said CCCS has made a conscious effort to buy beds, desks, washers, dryers, cars and other items locally.
"We appreciate how much the community welcomed us, and we want to give back to the community as much as we can," treatment program director Joe Zigmund told the port authority.
It will also be a boon to the treatment community, said Roger Curtiss, clinical director for Gateway Recovery Center.
"All the programs CCCS runs, they do a good job with," Curtiss said.
The Nexus program will offer a highly structured, nine-month treatment program that strives to change a meth addict's thinking and lifestyle, Thatcher said.
"We'll be dealing with people who have intensively and extensively abused this drug, and the majority of the research suggests that they will be suffering greater cognitive defects," he said.
Structure is important because meth addicts tend not to have it, said Schroeder.
"They've been staying up all night, using crystal meth and alcohol, living moment to moment," Schroeder said. "This structure gives them a model for the way they're going to have to start living their lives responsibly."
Patients will be challenged to change the way they think, said Thatcher.
"We're trying to get folks to recognize that their thinking errors have put them where they're at," he said.
"We'll have to challenge them to put others first instead of themselves," agreed Schroeder. "Most of these guys coming in have lived a life of irresponsible thinking — whatever they wanted they were going to get."
Another aspect of the treatment will be reality therapy, said Thatcher.
"If people come in and think it's OK to continue their drug use, others in their group will challenge that thinking, question why that behavior is continuing, and suggest the probable outcomes of that drug use," said Schroeder.
Patients will spend several hours in group therapy six mornings a week, and several more in substance-abuse counseling.
Several hours in the afternoon will be devoted to specialty groups like domestic violence, anger management and grief and loss.
"With crystal meth, you pretty much destroy all the people around you," Schroeder said.
The program will also focus on job skills and life skills from doing laundry to going back to school.
"Parenting classes are critical because a lot of these people have kids and we want them to be responsible parents," Schroeder said.
About the only free time in the week will be Sunday afternoon, deliberately left open so families can visit.
After nine months of intensive learning, graduation will be a big deal.
"Most of these guys have met with failure in everything they have ever tried — school, family, relationships and jobs — so we celebrate all the successes we can," said Schroeder. "And we hope they'll be successful when they leave this program."
Graduation will be followed by six months in a prerelease center, Thatcher said.
"They'll be doing the whole nine yards over there," Curtiss said. "I don't know what they'll be doing with families, but that aspect has to be incorporated or they'll be setting people up to fail."
He noted that the Nexus program will give Montana a whole spectrum of care options:
· Outpatient counseling at facilities like Gateway in Great
Falls;
· Limited inpatient treatment at facilities like Rimrock Mental
Health Services in Billings;
· The Nexus Correctional Program in Lewistown;
· And the prison in Deer Lodge for meth addicts who don't change
their behavior.
Thatcher said a strong family component will be built into the prerelease programs to allow former meth addicts to restore family ties.
"If in five years, we haven't achieved our objectives, they should take away our funding," he said. "But I think a lot of states are watching what we're doing, and when we're successful, other states will be adopting this program."
Nation will be watching success of meth treatment center
Lewistown News-Argus, 5/23/07
Lewistown civic leaders for the first time Wednesday met the new program administrator of the Nexus meth treatment center which has been built at the Lewistown Municipal Airport.
Schroeder said that building and opening the $10 million treatment facility has gone well. He said the only struggle has been to find housing for his 44 employees.
As of Wednesday, he still had six employees “who are homeless,” Schroeder said. He noted they have been staying in a house in Lewistown purchased by Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc., the Butte-based firm which will operate the state-funded center.
Some of the new employees are renting, he said, while others want to buy. But finding suitable houses to buy has been difficult.
Schroeder, who was accompanied to the meeting by Joe Zigmund, treatment program manager, and by Rick Barman, security director, thanked the Port Authority for its role in bringing the meth treatment center to Lewistown.
“We would like to have had a 12-month treatment program, or even 18 months, but nine months is a good starting point and we can see how that does,” said Zigmund. He noted that patients will spend nine months here and an additional six months in a pre-release center elsewhere before being released back into society.
After 15 months, officials think meth addicts should be ready to re-enter society. If not, there are provisions to keep the addicts in treatment longer, he said. He added that such long treatment programs are needed because crystal meth addiction is so severe.
Both Zigmund and Barman said security will be tight but the center will rely more on keeping the patients busy than on the high fence which surrounds the building. Barman, who said he has had eight years security experience in the prison system in North Dakota, said the men in the facility here will have almost no free time.
The only time the patients will leave the building is if they have to be taken to a hospital for treatment. Any time a patient leaves the facility he will be accompanied by two staff members, Schroeder said.
“They are not to be in front of TVs or playing games,” said Barman. “We will occupy their time. We want to open their eyes so they understand why it is that they have been doing what they have been doing.”
Zigmund said “this is Club Med to these guys. Their other choice is five years in prison. If we can make them comfortable they will open up.”
He said a lot of the men destined for the Lewistown facility grew up too fast and did not have childhoods. So they will have toys and things that make them feel like kids again. Treatment will occur seven days a week, Zigmund said.
Schroeder described the new building as “real nice.” Because of the comfort patients feel being in the building it should have a huge impact on those who receive treatment there, he said. He noted they will spend their entire nine months inside the building.
On June 1, 10 to 12 men will arrive to begin treatment. Another 10-12 will arrive each week following until by July, the 80 beds will be filled, Schroeder said. After that there will be a waiting list of those who want to get in. Because it is a nine-month treatment program, it may be nine months before there is space for someone to get in.
The new administrator said CCCS made every effort to buy everything locally. He said beds, desks, washers and driers, cars and other items were purchased from Lewistown merchants.
“We appreciate very much how the community welcomed us and we want to give back to the community as much as we can,” Zigmund said. “We would like to become a big part of the community.”
The University of Montana will conduct an outcome study which will take two or three years, Schroeder said. Because that institution is outside the correctional system, it will provide an honest report on how well patients do after treatment here.
“You always hear about those cases where treatment doesn’t work, but we believe treatment does work,” said Schroeder. He said other CCCS treatment facilities have a 72 to 75 percent success rate and the firm is shooting for 75 percent here.
Georgia man earns top job at meth center
Gov. Schweitzer to headline dignitaries at opening ceremony
Lewistown News-Argus, 4/11/07
The clinical director of a Georgia health facility has been named to the top job at the Nexus Methamphetamine Treatment Center, which will open in Lewistown on June 1.
Mike Thatcher, chief executive officer of Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc., the Butte-based firm which built and will operate the center at the Lewistown Municipal Airport, said Don Schroeder will be the facility’s program administrator.
Thatcher said an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at the center on Wednesday, May 30. Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-Mont.) will head the list of dignitaries who plan to be on hand for the ceremony, Thatcher said.
The 80-bed residential treatment facility is scheduled to take its first offenders on June 1. The program will serve adult male offenders and will include a comprehensive array of correctional programming and services, he said.
Schroeder will be relocating to Lewistown later this month from Statesboro, Ga., where he previously worked as the clinical director of the Savannah Area Behavioral Health Collaborative.
Schroeder received his bachelor of science degree in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana and his master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois in Springfield.
He is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in health services administration. He has published several papers and presented at numerous conferences, Thatcher said.
Guests of honor at the open house and ribbon cutting ceremony, in addition to the governor, will include Mike Ferriter, director of the Department of Corrections, Sen. Jim Peterson (R-Buffalo) and other community leaders who were instrumental in bringing the $10 million center to Lewistown.
Local business and civic leaders are pleased about the planned opening of the meth treatment center. This is something several have worked on for years.
Bret Carpenter, vice chairman of the Fergus County Port Authority, was among those instrumental in bringing the meth treatment center to Lewistown.
“Time goes quickly. All of a sudden here it is coming,” said Carpenter. “What started out four years ago, now it is reality. They (CCCS) have done everything they said they would to this point.
“They made an investment here, they bought a house here and they are giving every indication they want to be a long-term partner in the community. They are paying for more of the infrastructure (water and sewer) at the airport than planned. They didn’t have to do it.
“There’s a lot of talk in community on the employment side, the jobs, the benefits. There may be a chance to grow this business if our community wants it.”
Lewistown City Manager Kevin Myhre was another who helped bring the meth center to Lewistown. He said, “It is a great feeling to see it coming to completion.”
Myhre said the meth center will benefit the economy and bring jobs to the community.
“It is a great accomplishment for the Port Authority and will be a benefit for Central Montana,” Myhre said. He said he heard that 14 families will be moving to Lewistown because of the meth center, “and that means more children in our schools, more people buying things in Lewistown.”
The city manager said he is aware that the influx of this many people will add to the city’s housing crunch. But, he said, for there to be investment in more subdivisions and more housing there has to be a shortage like this. He said eventually housing will catch up with the need.
One provision of the meth treatment center proposal was that a community panel would be established to review offenders who will be brought here. The purpose was to be sure that individuals who might be a danger to the community would not be brought here.
“I have not heard who will be members of the community panel to screen people coming here,” said Carpenter. “I know they want a cross section from the community, law enforcement, probation, Port Authority members, others.”
Thatcher said he has filled most of the 44 positions available at the center. He said he could not announce the others at this point because some still have to make arrangements with their current employers to make the move here.
Carpenter said he had heard that several in Lewistown got jobs at the center.
Thatcher said Schroeder’s duties will include coordination of the local screening committee to ensure that clients are suitable for this type of treatment, managing the staff at the facility, educating the community and the state about the Nexus program and many other duties ensuring that the clients receive the best treatment possible.
In an interview by phone on Thursday, Schroeder said he is “looking forward to the challenge and I’m excited to have a new staff coming in.
“It’s very exciting for me. I’m originally from a town of 350 people south of Chicago. I flew up to Lewistown about a month ago. It was warmer in Lewistown than in Savannah, when I went there.
“I don’t expect to have trouble adjusting to life in Montana. I’m an outdoors person. I love to hunt and fish,” Schroeder said.
Thatcher said, “Schroeder is looking forward to the challenge of opening the new program, training the new staff and ensuring that quality treatment is delivered to the clients, all the while adjusting to life in Montana.”
The CCCS chief said the type of treatment anticipated at the Lewistown center “focuses on multi-dimensional/holistic change in the areas of abstinence, social responsibility, right living and moral development.
“Traits that are emphasized in the therapeutic community model are honesty, personal responsibility and accountability, economic self-reliance, community involvement and good citizenship.”
Thatcher praised Gov. Schweitzer and the 2005 Montana Legislature for having the “farsightedness” to approve and fund the center. He also saluted Sen. Peterson for introducing the bill that resulted in approval of state meth treatment in such a center.
“Without Peterson’s bill and support from both sides of the legislative aisle we wouldn’t be one step closer to addressing the devastating and costly effects associated with meth addiction,” Thatcher said.
He also noted that the center would not have come to Lewistown without the encouragement and support of the people of Lewistown. He said several groups were instrumental in bringing the facility to Lewistown including the Port Authority, the Lewistown Airport Board, Snowy Mountain Development Corp. and city and county officials.
“We would like to welcome the citizens of Montana to the grand opening and ribbon cutting. There will be tours of the new facility as well as refreshments served throughout the day,” said Thatcher.
Meth treatment centers welcome and needed
Great Falls Tribune - 4/11/07
While the 2007 Legislature in Helena wrestles with conflicting views over budgets, taxes and just about everything else, one of the fruits of the 2005 session became a reality on Tuesday.
It's the Elkhorn Treatment Center, the Corrections Department's new, 40-bed facility for treating women convicted of methamphetamine-related crimes.
The scheduled arrival Tuesday of the first residents of the center marks a significant development in the way Montana deals with people addicted to meth.
Thanks to the giant ad campaign of the Montana Meth Project and its chief benefactor, Tom Siebel, the state has for a couple of years now sought to address the front end of the meth epidemic by educating people — mostly young people — about the perils of using meth even one time.
With the opening of the Elkhorn Center in Boulder and a larger men's facility coming in June to Lewistown, the state begins to address the other end of the problem, the person already addicted to the illegal, dangerous and widely available drug.
Up until now, much of the blame for a burgeoning prison population in Montana — including at the regional detention center on Gore Hill — has been put on meth.
Further, meth-addicted inmates tend to have more medical problems than the general inmate population, and they have a higher tendency to offend again.
In short, it had become apparent that simply locking up meth addicts was not a rational long-term solution to the problem.
Convinced by data showing that intensive treatment programs succeed where more conventional corrections programs do not, the 2005 Legislature authorized creation of the treatment centers.
There was an open house at Elkhorn Monday, and the first six residents were scheduled to arrive there Tuesday.
About 20 staff members there have been trained, and the facility will handle up to 40 residents at a time.
A typical treatment program will include nine months at the center followed by six months at a pre-release center.
Staff members at the 80-bed men's facility under construction in Lewistown expect to receive their first residents June 1. An open house is set there May 30.
In a related development in Helena, funding for treatment courts, which will work in tandem with the new treatment centers, remained in the state budget as of Tuesday; we hope lawmakers will keep it there and give a fair chance to this new approach to a growing problem.
It's important to remember in this discussion that the treatment approach to meth and other addiction problems saves money in the long run.
Thanks for a job well done
By Roberta Forsell Stauffer, Montana Standard opinion page editor - 3/21/07
What a great idea. Butte-Silver Bow police decided to take a friendlier approach to St. Patrick’s Day crowd control this year, and it worked wonders, for the most part.
An estimated 15,000 people turned out for the celebration, many of whom undoubtedly drank more beer than they should have, but there was only one felony arrest for the whole weekend.
A man threw a beer can at a police officer, but fortunately the officer wasn’t seriously injured.
The ingenious idea was to avoid creating an us-them-type relationship with the crowd. Rather than regularly drive patrol cars through the swarms of visitors in the streets, police switched to foot patrols this year and mingled with the revelers. They volunteered to take photos; they chatted up the crowds, building good will and positive energy during the sunny daylight hours that no doubt came in handy when darkness fell and they faced the difficult task of dispersing drunken groups who didn’t necessarily want the party to end.
The idea for this new approach came from the officers themselves, who suggested that mingling would help to ease tensions.
“We were doing things differently to see how it would work and obviously it did,” Sheriff John Walsh told The Standard on Monday. “It definitely took the edge off of some of it. You talk to people rather than talk at them and it really does help.” Great job, police officers, for coming up with a new approach and pulling it off with finesse. Thanks, too, to the highway patrolmen who assisted. Walsh said the local officers couldn’t have handled that large a crowd without your reinforcements. We were doing things differently to see how it would work and obviously it did,” Sheriff John Walsh told The Standard on Monday. “It definitely took the edge off of some of it. You talk to people rather than talk at them and it really does help.” Great job, police officers, for coming up with a new approach and pulling it off with finesse. Thanks, too, to the highway patrolmen who assisted. Walsh said the local officers couldn’t have handled that large a crowd without your reinforcements.
Walsh praised his entire department — including administrative people, detention center staff, and dispatchers — for doing a commendable job working an extraordinarily busy (and probably dreaded) weekend. Even though there were no real serious incidents, still about 90 people were arrested for minor misdemeanors.
And thanks as well to the Butte Pre-Release Center’s clean-up crews, along with the public works department and Mainstreet Butte. Streets lined with beer cans and garbage were again looking decent by Sunday, and hopefully all that aluminum made it to a recycling center. Uptown bars only served cans and plastic cups, which was a smart idea. In future years, glass should be banned from the Uptown altogether if possible to cut down on the mess.
There won’t be another celebration like St. Patrick’s Day 2007 until at least 2013 when the holiday will again fall on a Saturday. And if the weather forecast is sunny and warm, organizers should order up twice as many Porta-Potties and at least that many more garbage cans. And remember, you can ask a police officer to snap a quick photo to capture the moment. He or she will gladly oblige.
Our Readers Speak: Parole board responds to recent letter
The Montana Standard - 3/20/07
Carolyn Reed, mother of a Montana State Prison inmate, recently wrote a letter to the editor alleging her son has been treated unfairly by the state Board of Pardons and Parole.
First, let me clarify the board’s role. Parole is a privilege earned and not a right of prisoners. The board’s primary responsibility in making decisions is public safety. The law says the board may release any person when the board believes the person is able and willing to fulfill the obligations of a law-abiding citizen and when the board believes the prisoner can be released without detriment to the prisoner or the community.
In this case, Reed’s son was granted parole on Oct. 31, 2006, upon completion of a second treatment cycle at the six-month WATCh program, which is specifically designed to treat felony DUI offenders and has a tremendous success rate. If he chooses to cooperate, he can be released prior to the expiration of his sentence, which is July 6, 2008. If not, he will be released when his term expires.
He was required to complete WATCh a second time because of his record. He is serving a five-year sentence for felony DUI. This is his second conviction for a fourth or subsequent drunken-driving offense. He also has a prior felony conviction for possession of a weapon, and 14 traffic and misdemeanor convictions.
The board carefully considered the circumstances leading to his current incarceration. Since 1998, Reed’s son has been given three opportunities to correct his behavior and become a law-abiding citizen who does not pose a danger to others. He failed each time. The determination that he needed a second term in the WATCh program was based on his multiple felony drunken-driving convictions. The board did not “enhance” his sentence or rescind the offer of parole, as Reed states. The board’s decision was based on the history of her son’s behavior.
The board is not “robbing” taxpayers or causing a crowded prison system. The board is doing its part, following appropriate laws, releasing deserving offenders to community placements and keeping undeserving or dangerous prisoners incarcerated.
During the past five years, the Board has released 2,854 offenders to parole supervision, including a record 635 in 2006. In that same time, 694 paroled offenders have successfully completed their sentences in the community. The board has approved parole for nearly six out of 10 offenders appearing before it.
I believe the board’s record speaks for itself, as does Reed’s son’s.
Craig Thomas
Executive Director
Montana Board of Pardons and Parole
300 Maryland Ave.
Deer Lodge, Montana
County commissioners approved a measure Tuesday allowing a Butte-based group to move forward with plans to take over a cash-strapped youth home here.
The Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission unanimously approved a resolution allowing the county to lease the Discovery House building at 800 S. Main St. to Community Counseling and Correctional Services.
“This is a good deal, and this is something Anaconda should be proud to have,” Commissioner Pete Lorello said.
County legal staff has yet to draft the lease terms, but the county will likely let CCCS use the building for $1 a year, county Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Guay said.
If all goes as planned, CCCS will take over Discovery House for three years, maintaining existing services and staff, said the home’s director Carole Kovacich.
“I will run the program here as far as the house is concerned,” she said.
Founded 32 years ago by a Catholic nun, Discovery House has nine beds for troubled youth, who arrive there from a variety of circumstances. While the home has long struggled to balance its books, it fell deeply into financial trouble last November.
CCCS’s intervention is the home’s only chance for survival, Kovacich said.
CCCS is a non-profit organization that runs private corrections and rehabilitation facilities across Montana, including the Butte Pre-Release. The organization contracts with the state and federal governments to house inmates.
A glimmer of hope for Discovery House, a cash-strapped home for troubled youth, has arrived in the form of Butte-based Community Counseling and Correctional Services, officials said Tuesday.
“They’re interested in helping us,” said Carole Kovacich, director of the 32-year-old non-profit organization that fell into dire financial straits in November. “We need to go with somebody or it’s not going to be here.”
Kovacich asked the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission Tuesday to lease the nine-bed Discovery House building — on South Main Street behind the county courthouse — to CCCS. The organization operates treatment and correctional facilities, including the Butte Pre-Release Center.
“I’m cautiously optimistic it’s going to happen,” Mike Thatcher, CCCS’s administrator, said in a phone interview Tuesday night. “We think it falls within our mission. In our opinion, it’s a critically needed service.” In coming weeks, county staff will draft a lease and present it to commissioners for a vote, Chief Executive Rebecca Guay said.
While Discovery House has always struggled financially, it fell deeply into the red this winter, partly because the cost of housing kids far exceeds the state’s reimbursement rate, Kovacich said.
Pleas for financial help brought in $20,000 from the community, but it would take far more to keep Discovery House operating.
“Without CCCS’s intervention, the home will not likely survive,” said Kovacich, who wears several hats at the home. “I’m getting older, and I don’t have the energy I used to have, but I want Discovery House to stay here.”
Her desperation reached beyond Anaconda, to Marko Lucich, executive director of the Butte Chamber of Commerce and a former probation officer. After learning Discovery House’s situation, Lucich set up a meeting between Kovacich and Thatcher.
Her desperation reached beyond Anaconda, to Marko Lucich, executive director of the Butte Chamber of Commerce and a former probation officer. After learning Discovery House’s situation, Lucich set up a meeting between Kovacich and Thatcher.
“Discovery House is very important for kids in the Butte and Anaconda area,” Lucich said in a phone interview. Also, he said, the 13 jobs Discovery House provides are important to the local economy.
If CCCS takes over, existing employees would keep their jobs, but would receive better pay and benefits than currently, Thatcher said. The size and focus of Discovery House also would stay the same, he said.
His organization has the resources, experiences and connections to market and manage Discovery House until it reaches financial stability, he said.
CCCS starts with one program and 13 employees 23 years ago; and now it boasts 11 services with 450 employees
Josh Lefthand says he’s finally learned the value of staying sober.
Unfortunately, it took his seventh drunken driving charge to learn that lesson.
Lefthand, of Polson, is one of several people with multiple
driving-under-the-influence offenses being treated at the WATCh facility at Warm
Springs.
It is one of 11 programs in the region operated by the Community, Counseling,
and Correctional Services Inc., or CCCS, headquartered in Butte.
The private, non-profit CCCS started in Butte 24 years ago. Its diverse programs
house and treat offenders with drug- and alcohol-related convictions, prepare
inmates to be released from prison, and deal with troubled juveniles, among
other services.
CCCS Chief Executive Officer Mike Thatcher would consider Lefthand one of the
WATCh’s success stories.
After his seventh DUI arrest, Lefthand was facing more than
a year in prison. On Friday, after six months in WATCh, Lefthand was four days
away from being released. He said the program helped him change his life.
“I know I’m an alcoholic, I know it’s a disease. But I’ve learned here that I
have a choice not to put that stuff in my body,” he said.
Economic impact
Other CCCS programs continue to grow, including the six programs it operates
in southwestern Montana. This includes the Butte Pre-release Center.
The center, located at 68 W. Broadway St. in Uptown Butte, was CCCS’s first
program, initiated in December 1983. CCCS has since expanded operations in Butte
to include the Women’s Transitional Center in 1992 and the Connections
Corrections Program in 1998.
CCCS also has facilities in Washington and North Dakota.
Over the years, the CCCS has made a significant impact on the regional economy,
Thatcher said. The group’s six local programs employ about 350 people in Butte,
Anaconda and Deer Lodge, he said. Overall, CCCS has about 450 employees,
according to its Web site.
“The lion’s share of our employees are Butte people,” Thatcher said.
The programs have also been responsible for purchasing an estimate of $6.9
million in local goods and services in the last fiscal year, according to
records provided by the CCCS.
Thatcher said the programs generated about $20 million last year.
The pre-release and transitional centers take qualified adult men and women
inmates out of prison and give them a chance to serve a shorter sentence. The
centers provide a less institutionalized environment and offenders are allowed
temporary leave to work.
“The idea of the center is to prepare offenders for the outside world,” Thatcher
said.
Employers’ response Bud Walker, owner of the M&M Cigar Store, a historic bar and
cafe at 9 N. Main St., said he’s been employing workers from the pre-release
center for years. Not only have these people worked well for him, Walker said
they have been essential to his business.
“We need them. There are times where we couldn’t function without them,” Walker
said.
The Montana Standard
hires pre-release inmates in its packaging department. Publisher Janet Taylor
said the pre-release hirees come already screened for drugs, which “is really
convenient for us.” Packaging department employees work around heavy equipment
in the wee hours of the morning, and being drug-free is integral to the job and
its safety requirements, she said.
Walker said he often needs them when one of his regular employees fails to show
up for work. He said center officials are accommodating to his needs.
“If I call right now, I can have somebody down here in 15 minutes,” he said.
The walk-aways
Thatcher said offenders, with permission, may leave the center to
work, but must return after their shift ends.
Sometimes offenders don’t always follow the rules. Thatcher said “walk-aways”
are rare, but acknowledged that sometimes happens. The most recent two walk-aways
were captured shortly after leaving the center and face felony escape charges.
Thatcher said those who violate the CCCS rules take the chance of returning to
prison.
“Offenders are held accountable here (at the center). Some people think you go to pre-release and smoke dope and hangout, but we have zero tolerance for any violations,” he said.
Stemming from a small office in Butte over two decades ago, Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc. has since expanded its operations throughout the Northwest.
The CCCS contracts include those with the Montana Department of Corrections and Federal Bureau of Prisons.
CCCS started in 1983 in Butte with one facility, and has expanded to 11 programs, including facilities in Washington and North Dakota.
And they continue to grow, according to CCCS Chief Executive Officer Mike Thatcher.
“The need for this type of service is huge,” he said.
A brief overview of CCCS programs:
Butte Pre-Release Center. This 126-bed facility is a program for adult male offenders referred by the Montana Department of Corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It has been accredited by the American Correctional Association since 1998. The facility has 64 employees. CCCS began operating this program in December 1983.
Women’s
Transitional Center. This 60-bed pre-release center
located in Butte is for adult female offenders and
has been accredited since 1998. The facility has 32
employees. CCCS began operating this program in June
1992.
Connections
Corrections Program. This 120-bed facility located
in Butte and Warm Springs offers a 60-day addictions
treatment program for adult male and female
offenders referred by state corrections. The
facility has 27 employees. CCCS began operating this
program in March 1998.
Warm Springs Addictions Treatment & Change (WATCh) Program. This 156-bed facility located in Warm Springs, Montana, offers a six-month modified therapeutic treatment community for adult male, fourth or subsequent DUI offenders referred by MDOC. The facility has 61 employees. CCCS began operating this program in February 2002.
WATCh East. This 40-bed facility located in Glendive offers a six-month modified therapeutic treatment community for adult female offenders and some male offenders from Eastern Montana, all fourth or subsequent DUI offenders referred by MDOC. The facility has 23 employees. CCCS began operating this program in February 2005.
RYO Correctional Facility: This is a long-term juvenile lockup for serious offenders between the ages of 14 and 21. The $9.5 million facility, located in Galen, opened in December 2002 and can house up to 60 federal, state and county inmates.
Gallatin County Work-Release/Re-Entry Program: The 40-bed building is used for pre-release, drug testing and court-sanctioned detention for adult males. Located in Bozeman, the CCCS will transfer ownership of the building to Gallatin County in 10 years.
START Facility: The Warm Springs center is used to house male offenders who violated the terms of parole, probation or pre-release as an alternative to prison or jail.
Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility: This jail for juvenile offenders is located in Medical Lake, Wash. CCCS took over operations of the facility in 1998. It contracts with several counties in Eastern Washington and Montana.
Bismarck Transition Center: This pre-release center for adult males is in North Dakota. CCCS began providing service there in 2002. The center can house up to 150 offenders.
Future programs:
Nexus Correctional/ Treatment Facility: The $9.2 million facility being built in Lewistown is designed to provide intensive treatment for offenders with two convictions related to methamphetamine use. Offenders will go through a nine-month program, and, if successful, be transported to a six-month pre-release program.
They lowered the castle's drawbridge on Wednesday morning, and something good
happened.
Toys poured out. And games.
They came out in bunches and will be delivered to underprivileged children for
Christmas. This was over on Lee Avenue
in that castle-looking building. You know where that is? The one with the
turrets just off Airport Road in southeast Bismarck.
It's the home of the Bismarck Transition Center, a halfway house for convicted
felons. It appears some of them, at least, have truly embraced the idea of
making the transition from incarceration back into the community. Several
residents at the center have used their own money to buy toys for kids whose
stockings might otherwise have been a little light this year.
"It's good to give something back to the community," said resident Cliff Eaton,
who donated a drawing set.
Eaton and fellow residents Tony Eley and Wesley Miller - all of whom are serving
sentences on drug charges - helped to load several bags full of toys into Shari
Doe's SUV on Wednesday. Doe and Barbara Messmer, from Burleigh County Social
Services, will distribute the presents to children who need a little sunshine.
"This is such a great program," Doe said. "There are a lot of people out there
benefiting from the generosity of this community."
Jessica Messmer, a work-release coordinator for the transition center, is
running the gift drive. The 3-year-old event is a popular one among staff and
residents, she said.
"Some of (the residents) who have been here before started asking me about it in
November," Messmer said. "I've had a lot of guys tell me they know what it's
like to be locked up at Christmas and not be able to buy their kids gifts. They
wanted to help."
The residents, who have jobs either at the center or out in the community, use
their own money to buy gifts. Many of them still have fines and restitution to
pay, but they work with their case managers to see if they have room in their
budgets to give a little bit. One resident had a good amount of wiggle room this
month, and donated $100, Messmer said.
Eley, who said he grew up in a house with 17 siblings, knows what it's like to
be skipped over at Christmas.
"I just wanted to donate, so hopefully a kid will get something I never got," he
said.
Miller agreed with Eaton that it's nice to be able to give something back to the
community.
"It's for the kids," Miller said. "Kids need presents at Christmas."
It's a good lesson that worthwhile community service doesn't have to be ordered
by a judge.
When Michael Purington and his band the Messengers play for audiences made up of long-term recovery people it’s like playing with a built-in laugh track.
They recognize the situations depicted in the songs. They know the language. They’ve been there and done it, Purington explained.
Michael and the Messengers were in Glendive Monday for performances at WATCh East in the morning and at Dawson Community College in the evening. The DCC performance was part of the freshman orientation program and was a new experience for the band which has performed on “sobriety cruises” and for many groups of recovering alcoholics.
“Our aim is to bring recovery music into schools, clinics, rehabs, jails and any other facilities where alcoholics suffer from their disease. We also hope to help educate potential alcoholics about the pitfalls that lie in wait,” Purington said.
Most country musicians write and sing about drinking. Purington writes and sings about not drinking. When he recorded his first CD in 2001, he could find only one other CD with recovery music. Now an Internet search for alcoholism recovery music returns over one million links.
According to his Web site, www.QuitDrinkin.com, “The message is simple; quit drinking and learn to live sober. Often life is at stake. Alcoholism is a fatal disease, and the message saves lives.”
Purington has been sober since 1993, but he labels himself a “multi-retread.” He quit drinking numerous times before finally becoming involved in a recovery program, starting to attend meetings regularly and working with other recovering alcoholics to maintain his sobriety.
Music was always an important part of his life. At 19 he began playing professionally and started The Lost Highway Band in 1974. The band toured the western United States and Canada and performed with musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, B.B. King and George Thorogood.
When the band broke up, Purington quit writing music and began drinking heavily until a girlfriend encouraged him to get into a recovery program. He stayed sober for four-and-a-half years. He was not drinking but also not going to meetings, not talking to anyone about his alcoholism and not dealing with issues, he said
He started drinking again – trying to escape the reality of life – until he finally reached the point where he started asking for help and began the journey back to sobriety. When he was nine months sober he wrote his first sobriety song but didn’t write another for five years when he wrote, “I think I’ll Quit Drinkin’ Today” and “Gloom, Doom, 7-Up & Jesus.” He showed them to a good friend who asked him to put them on a cassette for him. Soon he found himself writing more tunes.
“They were piling up, like waifs at the door saying, ‘Hi. We’ve come to stay at your house.’ I had nothing to feed them, but I didn’t mind them hanging around. They were pleasant little things,” he said.
Two of his friends agreed to finance a full-band, 12-song CD so he pulled some of his musician friends together and went to work. People in his home town of Missoula bought it, but he didn’t know how to find a larger market until he discovered a woman who also had a recovery CD. With her help he went online with his music.
Now he has placed his CDs in recovery stores in 30 states but has been told they are actually available in all 50 states. He has received orders from Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Scotland, Denmark and Canada.
His first CD, “I Think I’ll Quit Drinkin’ Today” was all about “The Guy,” a character who finally decides maybe he’s got a drinking problem and needs to take action about his situation. The second, “People With No Last Names” is about all those who are there waiting when The Guy decides to get sober. Each song represents a different character. Together they form a whole picture of G.O.D. - The Group of Drunks, he explained.
For his latest CD, “Promises: Demons and Redemption in Alcoholism Recovery,” Purington wrote over 300 songs exploring specific problems and solutions in sobriety. “Most of these songs sort of wrote themselves; I just tried to keep a good pen handy,” he said.
Ordering information from the CDs and more information about recovery music is available at the Web site: www.QuitDrinkin.com.
Marcie Conmy-Fisher, director of the Transition Center, 2001 Lee Ave., said the facility now has 155 beds, and the staff has grown from 30 employees to 50.
The first residents were taken to the new part of the center on April 28, and the construction was completed on June 14, she said.
The Transition Center works to ease selected male prisoners back into the community and to relieve the overcrowding conditions in the prison system, Conmy-Fisher said.
The prisoners cannot be sex offenders or have excessively violent backgrounds to be accepted, she said.
The Transition Center expanded because the state Department of Corrections put out a request for an assessment center, Conmy-Fisher said.
The assessment center will evaluate men who are out on parole or probation and who have violated the conditions of their release, she said. Rather than go through the court system and end up back in prison, qualified men can be placed in the Transition Center.
The Transition Center opened in August 2002. Residents are required to find employment, stick to a budget and do community service. They are gradually allowed leisure time to develop hobbies and can visit the library up to three times per week, Conmy-Fisher said.
Residents also receive drug and alcohol treatment, she said.
"I would say the majority of our guys -- their crimes have been because of drugs and alcohol," she said.
The Montana Department of Corrections has far-reaching economic impacts in Butte-Silver Bow and adjacent counties.
Mike Ferriter, a
Butte native, recently took the helm of the sprawling agency, replacing Bill
Slaughter, who resigned. Ferriter, 51, has been working in corrections since
1977.
Butte’s adjacency to the state prison in Deer Lodge has left the impression that
Butte is a dumping ground for the majority of the paroled inmates. And there’s
concerns of locating the pre-release center in Uptown Butte has affected other
economic development.
Not so, according to Ferriter and his agency spokesman, Bob Anez.
Here’s a few facts as of the end of June 2006:
Economic, Social impacts
The prison is at
or near capacity, said Ferriter, and about 180 men and women are waiting in
county jails to be transferred to the prison.
Nearly all of the crimes committed are tied to drugs, he said.
“It’s always drugs. Alcohol is the gateway drug for juveniles. Meth is the drug
of choice for adults,” he said. “And a higher percentage of women are caught up
in meth.” It points to the need for more early intervention. Butte’s chemical
dependency program is a good start but has a long waiting list. Lewistown will
soon see a program dedicated to meth via the Community, Counseling and
Correctional Services, based in Butte.
Also, Ferriter
says controls are in place to keep the most dangerous and the sex offenders out
of Butte. The pre-release center does not take such offenders.
“The thing about pre-release centers is that you have an instant workforce for
jobs no one else can be called on to do, at all hours of the day,” Ferriter
said.
CCCS operates several programs in the area. The Butte Pre-release Center employs
68 people with an annual payroll of $2.3 million. This program has spent $2.8
million on buying and improving property in Uptown Butte since 1983. It spent
$750,477 on local goods and services last fiscal year.
Women’s Transitional Center employs 36 full-time employees with a payroll of
$950,774.
Connections Corrections has spent $460,426 on property purchase and improvement
and spent $633,21 on goods and services last year. It has 28 employees with a
payroll of $939,200.
WATCh program spent $633,200 on goods and services last year, and has 63
employees with a payroll of $2.4 million annually.
RYO juvenile correctional facility (at Galen, for federal offenders) has spent
$7.8 million on property purchases and improvements since 2002. It spends almost
$649,000 annually to buy goods and services, employs 78 people and has an annual
payroll of $2.7 million.
S