Dept. of Corrections looking at prerelease center for reservation

By Maggie Plummer

PABLO - Last Thursday, Tribal Council members, Lake County Commissioners, and various tribal staff members gathered in the council chambers for a working lunch, during which they listened to a presentation on the need for a Prerelease center here on the Flathead Reservation.

Kerry Pribnow, Contracts Manager for the Montana Dept. of Corrections (DOC) Community Corrections Division, presented information to the gathering, noting that the state is looking at placing a 40-bed prerelease facility in Kalispell and another 40-bed facility in the Polson/Pablo area.

The idea, he said, is to help offenders come home and succeed.

"They're coming home anyway," Pribnow and others said.

He pointed out that state officials are well aware that "we need to do a better job with Native Americans," in terms of helping offenders succeed in staying out of the kind of trouble that lands them back in the prison system.

This would be the first time the DOC placed a prerelease center on a reservation.

Pribnow said that he envisions the new local center being built and opened during 2008.

But first, he said, the state legislature must fund the project. "We'll find out in April if the money is there," he explained.

Once the funding is secured, the next steps include holding public hearings about the project and creating a working committee.

Lake County has 431 offenders in the DOC system, making it the eighth largest contributing county to the system, according to Pribnow. Flathead County has 1,252 offenders in the system, ranking them as the fourth largest contributing county.

Lincoln County has 244 offenders, and Glacier County has 83 offenders, according to his figures.

"Currently there are 147 offenders from this four-county area in Prereleases around the state," Pribnow wrote in his Determination of Need statement. Flathead has 87, Lake has 46, Lincoln has 17, and Glacier has 10.

"These offenders will be coming back," he said. "There are over 800 offenders on Probation or Parole in just the Kalispell area."

He pointed out that offenders participating in a Prerelease Center Program are able to work, and help support their families. That means they can help pay for medical expenses, make restitution payments, pay court fines and taxes, and save money for their release. All of these aspects, he says, contribute to holding offenders accountable while at the same time empowering them to accept responsibility.

According to Pribnow's figures, between July 2005 and July 2006, offenders in Prerelease Center programs earned about $7.8 million. They paid, during that year, $210,722 in restitution and fines, $1.2 million in income taxes, and completed an estimated 45,509 hours in community service.

They also paid $357,529 toward medical expenses, $328,302 for family and child support, and worked about two million hours, he said.

He told the gathering that the DOC never forces a county to accept placement of a prerelease center.

Pribnow is inviting anyone with questions or concerns about the local DOC prerelease center project to call him at (406) 444-4910 or e-mail him: kpribnow@mt.gov

Another option for those with concerns or questions is to contact Tribal Communications Director Rob McDonald, 675-2700 ext. 1222. His e-mail address is robertmc@cskt.org