Book by former correction employees critiques Montanaâs offender-treatment programs
By: Mike Dennison
and last updated 2020-12-23 16:36:36-05
BOULDER â Editorâs note: This story is the first of a two-part series on a new book critiquing the Montana Department of Correctionsâ management of treatment programs for criminal offenders.
In a book they co-authored and published, two former employees at a Montana correctional treatment program for female inmates say it was a big success â but the state shut it down in 2018, in part to fulfill contracts with privately run treatment programs.
The authors, who worked at the Riverside Recovery and Re-Entry Program in Boulder, also say the defunct program could and should be a model for successful treatment of felons in Montana, rather than what they see as programs that over-emphasize punishment.