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Revocation, sanction center for offenders moves to new home
By Montana Department of Corrections
Published: 07/28/2010

Community, Counseling and Correctional Services Inc., in partnership with the Montana Department of Corrections, opened a new revocation and sanction center near Anaconda on Tuesday.

The $12.3 million facility will allow the Sanction, Treatment, Assessment, Revocation and Treatment (START) program to move from its temporary quarters in an aging building at Warm Springs where it operated since opening as a pilot project in December 2005. CCCS, which has operated the program since it began, offered the only qualifying bid for permanent operation of the program in 2008.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who has been a strong advocate for the program since its inception, was among those attending the grand opening of the 40,000 square-foot facility. The building, located on land that CCCS purchased from Atlantic Richfield, will house 118 offenders, 30 more than START could accommodate at its original location. Ten of the additional beds will be reserved for offenders with mental illness.

Managed under the department’s Adult Community Corrections Division, START is designed to divert from prison those male offenders who violate conditions of their community placements. The goal of the program is to provide a sense of incarceration, coupled with assessment and treatment of offenders’ needs, to help them get back on track and return successfully to their communities.

This program monitors and assesses offenders, and offers chemical dependency evaluations and treatment by licensed addiction counselors. After assessments are completed, the staff screens offenders for placement at appropriate community corrections programs. If an assessment determines prison is the most appropriate option, the offender is transferred there.

Since it opened, START has diverted from prison more than 1,500 offenders admitted to the program and returned them to community placements. That 75 percent diversion rate is part of the reason that prison admissions in Montana dropped 12.5 percent in the first two fiscal years that START operated. The prison population has grown just 1.7 percent in the 3½ years since START began.

“We always considered the original site as temporary and that, once START demonstrated it is an effective diversion program, we would move it to a more efficient, updated facility,” said Pam Bunke, administrator of the Community Corrections Division. “START is the kind of program every corrections system needs because it benefits offenders and helps those of responsible for running that system.”

Offenders will move from the old facility early next month. START will have a staff of 55 when operating at capacity, with an annual payroll and benefits of $2 million.

Mike Ferriter, Department of Corrections director, said START has become an integral part of the corrections system in Montana and has proven itself to be an invaluable asset in helping manage 80 percent of Montana offenders outside of prison.

“I am sure that many of you recognize that managing prison population consumes much of the time and energy of corrections directors across the country. Due to the innovation of programs like START, our prison population today is manageable, which allows us to operate our secure facilities at safe and acceptable levels,” he said at the grand opening.

“This is the kind of pioneering program that Montanans expect their government to use in protecting public safety, helping offenders turn their lives around and making the most efficient use of taxpayer money,” he said.

Mike Thatcher, chief executive officer of the Butte-based CCCS, described START as “an incredible public-private partnership between CCCS, Gov. Schweitzer and his administration, the Montana Department of Corrections, the Legislature, Atlantic Richfield, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County officials and the entire Anaconda community.”

“The collaboration and cooperation between all parties is demonstrative of what we can accomplish, when we all work together as a team,” he said. “The START program has allowed many offenders to be returned to their community placements timely, and allows offenders to maintain employment, continue treatment and programming, and provide financial support to their own families, thereby removing the fiscal burden from the Montana’s taxpayers.”



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