Articles & News

August 28, 2008

Prerelease board delays vote on housing sex offenders

By RICHARD ECKE, Tribune Staff Writer

Members of the Great Falls Prerelease Services Board will not vote at a meeting today whether to accept some sex offenders at the facility, Paul Cory, executive director, said Wednesday.

The state Department of Corrections previously asked the Prerelease Center to consider accepting certain sex offenders so they could receive strict supervision and help. A decision on that request will come later, Cory said.

Members of the City Commission on Wednesday held a discussion on the issue, then decided not to take a formal position.

Mayor Dona Stebbins said commissioners could each take a personal position on the issue by contacting the center's board.

"I don't think that the city ought to take a stand on that," Stebbins said. "If the citizens don't want that here, then they need to contact the prerelease board."

Great Falls Neighborhood Council No. 2, representing the West Side, has gone on record as opposing housing sex offenders at the center.

Cory said the center initially promised not to house sex offenders, but the state agency has made some good arguments in favor of a change. As it stands, sex offenders released from state prison who choose to return to Great Falls "don't have the benefit of re-entry services," Cory said.

He said the center is considering the idea in good conscience.

"There's absolutely no benefit to this agency," Cory said. "We're only going to do this if it seems like the right thing to do for these offenders."

Cory said the prerelease board plans to analyze the issue further before making a final decision.

Bob Mehlhoff, a legislative candidate and member of the westside neighborhood council, said he was disappointed the City Commission did not take a stand against the plan.

Cory said Mehlhoff may be pushing the issue to gain votes, a charge Mehlhoff denied.

"I certainly would be against it whether I was running for office or not," Mehlhoff said.

He said he would prefer sex offenders receive rehabilitation "at the empty Hardin prison," rather than in Great Falls, adding he would like to see a public vote on the issue.

Mehlhoff's rehabilitation suggestion involves the $27 million, 464-bed jail built by the town of Hardin last year as an economic development project. That jail has not yet housed any Montana inmates.

State District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena in June ruled that the Hardin facility could accept out-of-state prisoners.

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Richard Ecke at recke@greatfallstribune.com, or at 406-791-1467 or 800-438-6600.