The Connections Corrections Program (CCP) is a comprehensive, community-based correctional program designed to serve the unique needs of the Montana correctional population who suffer from substance use disorders. The program provides clients with a full-range of treatment services focusing not only on the substance use issue of each individual, but also the underlying behavioral and dysfunctional thinking patterns which contribute to or sustain chemical use and result in criminal behavior.
Community, Counseling, and Correctional Services, Inc. (CCCS) in a partnership with the Montana Department of Corrections (MDOC), the Connections Corrections Program (CCP) opened its doors in March of 1998. Since that time, many chemically dependent state and federal offenders have received a much-needed service. The CCP began with a thirty (30) bed facility in Butte, Montana, and the need for additional services created an additional ten (10) bed expansion during the fall of 2003. With the expansion of the WATCh Program’s East DUI Facility to Glendive, Montana in February 2004, CCP was able to gain an additional forty (40) beds located in the CCP West building located on the Warm Springs campus. Later in 2004, CCP West added an additional ten (10) MDOC sanction beds, which was used to admit and treat conditional release and parole violators who needed a 60-day substance use treatment stay as opposed to the revocation of their respective conditional releases from a correctional facility. In 2009, the DOC increased the number of beds in each program to 52 and allowed for up to a 90-day program. January 2019 the MDOC approved the Connection Corrections Program to be a 90-day treatment stay and increase the number of beds at CCP East to 65 and at CCP West to 78.
CCP Program, is a 90-day, intensive, long-term residential treatment program which has been modified to meet the special needs/issues of a correctional population. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the cognitive behavioral model has been found to be scientifically effective in reducing recidivism.
CCP provides clients with the education and insight into their disease and maladaptive behaviors so they may integrate these skills and information into their daily lives. Through this process, and intensive programming, we have established the following program goals:
- Promote public safety by offering a milieu of programs and services for adult offenders in or entering local communities;
- Provide programs and services that assist eligible offenders with their transition from prison into the community;
- Provide an alternative to prison for those offenders who do not pose a significant threat to public safety and whose correctional programming and treatment needs could be best served by community placement;
- Provide support to probation for those offenders who do not pose a significant threat to public safety and who require greater programming structure and monitoring than can be offered through probation;
- Meet the supervision and control needs of adult offenders in a community-based correctional setting;
- Establish and maintain a continuum of programming through formal and informal links to other human service and correctional agencies.
The CCP Program is an intensive, cognitive-behavioral based community, which assists clients to develop skills necessary to create pro-social change; reduce anti-social thinking; interrupt criminal behavior patterns; and address the negative effects of chemical addictions while integrating more fully into society.
Correctional programming and treatment staff have established the following objectives to enable CCP to best achieve program goals:
- Provide clients with a primary counselor responsible for development and assessment of an individualized treatment and correctional programming plan;
- Provide clients with a highly-structured treatment and therapeutic environment;
- Provide clients with group therapy throughout the week;
- Provide clients with individual counseling, as determined by Licensed Addiction Counselor;
- Provide clients with criminal and addictive thinking programming weekly;
- Provide clients with weekly educational groups;
- Provide clients with self-help groups such as; Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) daily;
- Provide a balance of other programming — anger management, parenting, gender-specific programming, victim impact, Native American and culturally-sensitive groups — so as to best meet the unique needs of each client;
- Provide clients the opportunity to practice their spirituality and religion of choice as long as it does not pose a security threat;
- Provide clients with supervised recreation daily;
- Provide family involvement in treatment and correctional programming that includes weekly visitation and family-specific lectures and groups.
CCP staff review the effectiveness of correctional programming and treatment services through a process of continual quality assurance and total quality management. Feedback is gathered from clients, staff, and referring agencies.
CCP is designed to serve the following types of adult male offenders:
- Intensive Supervision Probationers (ISP) and Parolees violating the conditions of their parole plans to a level that would cause them to return to prison;
- Offenders at the Montana State Prison (MSP) who are mandated by the Board of Pardons and Parole to complete chemical dependency programming prior to release;
- Offenders at MSP who are court-ordered to complete substance use disorder programming prior to release;
- Offenders participating in pre-release programs who violate as a result of chemical use;
- Offenders referred by U.S. federal probation officials.
CCP is NOT designed to serve the following types of adult male offenders:
- Offenders with a history of violent crime. However, each offender is considered on a case-by-case basis;
- Offenders who have serious medical or mental health problems that would prohibit or significantly limit participation in correctional programming and substance use treatment. Again, offenders are considered on a case-by-case basis.
- The local screening committee considers many factors including the following: 1) Nature and number of offenses; 2) Previous community placements; 3) Behavior at other institutions; 4) Desire to change and motivation to participate in programming; 5) Medical or Psychological limitations that could prevent participation in the program.
A dedicated team of staff distinguished by both education and experience provide services at CCP. CCCS, Inc. carefully selects diverse, professional staff to ensure clients receive the most milieu of correctional programming and Substance Use treatment services.
Referrals to CCP are only made by the Montana Department of Corrections or the Federal Probation system. Once a referral is received, designated CCP staff and the local screening committee will review the appropriate paperwork (usually within one week of receipt) and determine the applicant's suitability for the program. This screening committee consists of a four-member voluntary contingency from the professional community, including a representative from local law enforcement, state adult probation and parole, community member, and the Program Administrator.
| CCP East | |
| Name: | Jeni Nichols |
| Title: | Program Administrator |
| Address: | 111 West Broadway |
| Butte, MT 59701 | |
| Phone: | 406-782-6626 ext. 302 |
| E-mail: | jnichols@cccscorp.com |
| CCP West | |
| Name: | Melissa Kelly |
| Title: | Program Administrator |
| Address: | 725 Orofino Way |
| Warm Springs, MT 59756 | |
| Phone: | 406-693-2272 ext. 501 |
| E-mail: | mkelly@cccscorp.com |