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Women at Montana correctional center urge new treatment-focused facility
Summary
Incarcerated women and a chemical-dependency counselor urged state officials to preserve and expand treatment programs and build a new, treatment-oriented women's correctional facility, citing cramped space, aging infrastructure and budget pressures.
Women incarcerated at a state women's correctional center urged officials to build a new, treatment-oriented facility and preserve existing rehabilitation programs, saying the current building is overcrowded, physically inadequate and limits treatment options.
An unnamed inmate who spoke at the meeting said the center's treatment programs had changed her life: "We are not a bunch of misguided little girls. No. We're we're grown women. We've made mistakes. We've come here and this correctional center has offered an opportunity that a lot of us, either never had out there or never realized that we needed to take advantage of." She added she was due to leave on parole the next day and expected to remain out of the prison system after release.
Speakers said the center's direct-supervision model and female-tailored programs — including a chemical-dependency curriculum with a three-month intensive phase followed by three months of aftercare and a relapse phase — are scarce outside the facility and have helped reduce recidivism for participants. A chemical-dependency counselor who addressed the meeting said she had worked to build a female-modeled program since August 1992 and hoped to secure state certification within a year.
Those who spoke described cramped space used for therapy and activities, limited rooms for video or group work and a lack of private space for women to process intense treatment material. "We don't have the space here to do that," an inmate said of planned program expansions, adding that meetings for childhood-abuse recovery were held in a small instructor office. Several speakers said a new facility should "carry into the new facility everything that we have here" while allowing room to expand.
Speakers also raised funding concerns. One said local reporting about a $32 million budget reduction had been misunderstood by the public and described a $10 million item as a bond issue rather than a general-fund cut. Another commenter suggested that admitting federal inmates under an expansion plan could bring federal funds to offset costs.
Several speakers described reentry and job-preparation challenges. One guest described on-the-job training and vocational selection processes overseen by a classification committee, and another described openings and placements tied to work at a nearby hospital. Speakers noted an increasing number of older women in custody whose emotional and physical needs differ from younger inmates, and urged that programs and staff be preserved if the facility relocates.
No formal vote or directive was recorded during the public comment portion covered by these remarks. Speakers asked that any replacement facility be treatment-focused rather than strictly maximum security, and that existing programs, staff and female-specific services be retained and expanded.
