The Great Falls Pre-Release Center offers services to those making the transition from incarceration to living in the community. Now, for the first time, they are offering new programming to outside agencies.
Program Manager Charlie Martin says, “One of the biggest frustrations that probation and parole officers have is finding affordable resources in our community that the population can attend.”
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The center will be offering three educational groups that State and Federal Probation and Parole, as well as the District, Justice, and Municipal Courts, can refer offenders to. These groups include cognitive behavioral programs that address criminal thinking and domestic violence, to lead to better moral decision making in hopes it will lower their chances of re-offending.
The courses will be led by trained facilitators, and participants will complete homework, receive feedback from their peers, and present to the group. In the event of noncompliance, the facilitator will notify the court to intervene.
The sessions are $20 for community offenders, plus the price of the book, and last from 12 to 24 weeks.
Martin says, “These are all programs that are going to help the individuals that committed those crimes understand their thinking, understand what they're doing to victims, and how that's affecting them.”
Another class being offered is a victim impact program, in which offenders will hear from victims about how crime has impacted their lives.
Nichole Griffith is the director of Victim-Witness Assistance Services in Great Falls and believes adding a victim panel to the rehabilitation process would be beneficial for both victims and offenders.
She said, “I think it's good for offenders of crimes that are 100% preventable to hear the impact that they're having on not just the crime victims, but the trickle effect that it has as well. It's not just the crime victim who is affected. It is also their families, it's the community, it's neighbors. I also think it's really important for crime victims to be able to say how they've been impacted, that can be a really healing experience.”
The Great Falls Pre-Release Center has also offered these courses to other agencies in Fort Benton, Shelby, Cut Bank, and Conrad, and plans to add additional programming on topics like anger management in the future.
Martin explains, “This is the first time that we've opened that door to the community, these are the first groups that we are starting with. So, anybody that might’ve been arrested for misdemeanor assault, or something similar, would be court-ordered to complete an anger management group. They could come here and take that at an affordable cost.”
For more information, call 406-455-9320, or email alan@gfprc.org.
