PANEL - MANY IN PRISON DON'T BELONG

HELENA - Montana could save millions of dollars a year by moving some
convicted felons, including lower-level sex offenders, out of prisons
and into treatment programs that have proved successful, a panel of
experts told lawmakers.

The suggestion was among those offered during a meeting Thursday of
the Corrections Advisory Council, which is looking to reduce prison
overcrowding in the state.

Shawn Abbott, who runs a treatment program in Great Falls for sex
offenders, said many people behind bars are young men who had sex with
girlfriends who were underage at the time.

"We stigmatize them badly by labeling them sex offenders and forcing
them to register with law enforcement for the rest of their lives,"
she told the council.

"We need to be able to tailor our treatment of them," she said.

Many of those offenders are classified as Level 1 sex offenders, said
Mike Scolatti, a psychologist from Missoula who works with the Montana
State Prison in Deer Lodge.

"In general, I don't think Level 1 offenders deserve to be in prison,"
he said. "These guys aren't predators."

Of the 608 sex offenders in prison in Montana, 137 are Level 1, he
said. Their treatment costs $49,000 a year each, or $6.7 million annually.

"If the courts sentenced half those 137 Level 1 men to outpatient
treatment, the state would save $3,381,000 a year," Scolatti said.

About 100 other inmates have completed their sex-offender treatment
and are just waiting to complete their sentences, he said.

"If we leave those guys sitting in prison for another year, it costs
the state another $5 million," he said, adding that the additional
prison time does the offender no good.

"The vast majority of these guys aren't sexual predators," he said,
noting very low recidivism rates. "Less than 1 percent of them are.
Contrary to popular belief, we're getting some very good results from
treatment."

Daniel N. Abrahamson, director of legal affairs for the Drug Policy
Alliance, said the state could also save millions by treating drug
addicts instead of imprisoning them.

Under Proposition 36 in California, about 35,000 drug users chose
voluntary treatment over prison, he told the council in a conference
call from a vacation in Mexico.

"One study showed that for every $1 spent on treatment, taxpayers have
saved $2.50," Abrahamson said.

He said outpatient treatment costs about $3,300 a year, compared with
the $34,000 cost of a year in prison.

Gary Kempker also briefed the council Thursday on a study of Montana's
jails done this year by the National Institute of Corrections.

"In some jails, we saw 70 percent of the inmates were pretrial. They
were waiting for trials for six months to a year," Kempker said.

"And other jurisdictions had 30 percent of their jail populations
serving sentences for municipal misdemeanors," he said. "Those struck
us as meriting further study."

Cascade County Sheriff David Castle volunteered his facility for a
pilot study, noting that the jail population in Great Falls was
reduced over the past year by acting on some of Kempker's
recommendations.