Flathead County Commissioners Pave Way for Prerelease Center’s Final Approval

Flathead County commissioners on Tuesday voted to send a proposal for a Montana Department of Corrections (MDOC) prerelease center in Evergreen ahead for final approval.

In a 2-1 vote, commissioners Randy Brodehl and Brad Abell voted to consider the adoption of a conditional use permit while Pam Holmquist opposed the resolution. The Board of Adjustments will host a public hearing tonight at 6 p.m. at the Flathead County South Campus Building at 4011 St. W. before delivering a final vote on the prerelease center’s permit.

If approved, the prerelease center will replace the existing Greenwood Village Inn and Suites in Evergreen on East Oregon Street with a 90-bed facility that will provide a step-down program for male offenders to reintegrate into the community following their sentences.

Commissioners at the Oct. 1 meeting responded to testimony from the Sept. 26 public hearing where MDOC officials presented the proposal before Flathead County officials and residents spoke in both support and opposition of the prerelease center.

Commissioner Abell was optimistic about the reduction in recidivism that the center would help promote and he also supported the idea of a controlled setting that provides resources for individuals in need of stability, job skills and mental health services.

In response to the neighbors’ concerns about the prerelease center’s proximity to their residences, Abell said the facility would prompt opposition regardless of its location.

“I heard from half of the people that testified ‘We need one, but we don’t want it in [our] backyard,’” Abell said. “So wherever we put this, it’s going to be in someone’s backyard.”

Commissioner Brodehl also hesitantly supported the prerelease center, but under the condition that there is adequate communication between neighbors and MDOC staff to ensure boundaries are established between offenders and residents.

“This is a very heavy decision for us,” Brodehl said.

Commissioner Holmquist, however, opposed the facility at the Greenwood Village Inn and Suites, citing the negative feedback from the area’s neighbors and the lack of resources needed to support the center’s participants.

“We really need some mental health services in our community along with drug addiction counseling and all the other services that we’re needing and are still lacking here in the Flathead and in the whole state, frankly,” Holmquist said. “So that’s why I’m not going to support this resolution today.”

The final approval would bring the tally of statewide prerelease centers to eight facilities, filling a gap in northwest Montana where no step-down program exists.

The state currently contracts with organizations to operate centers in Billings, Butte, Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena and Missoula, but this would be the only state-run center.

According to MDOC officials, Flathead County offenders, which account for 14.4% of the Montana State Prison population, are currently sent to other statewide prerelease centers far from their homes, which creates barriers when they return to the Flathead.

Prerelease centers are designed to transition offenders back into the community with a six-month program that requires participants to work fulltime and receive appropriate treatments under heavy supervision.

In 2023, the Montana Legislature set aside $7.1 million for a prerelease center in northwest Montana and the MDOC has been searching for a location since last year.

A facility was originally proposed in 2009 in Flathead County but never materialized.

[email protected]