New book, state audit scrutinize contracted correctional programs in MT
Are 20-year contracts appropriate?
and last updated 2020-12-23 19:52:16-05
BOULDER â Editorâs note: This story is the second of a two-part series on a new book critiquing the Montana Department of Correctionsâ management of treatment programs for criminal offenders.
When the state Corrections Department shut down a successful treatment program at a state-run facility in Boulder two years ago, it moved program residents to other treatment sites â run by private contractors.
In fact, the department told MTN News that one reason for shutting down the Riverside Recovery and Re-Entry Program in 2018 was a shortage of female inmates to fill all the treatment beds available â and the department was paying contractors for empty beds, per their contract.
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.