Most news stories about a transition program or pre-release center focus on the people who walk away from the program. The Helena Independent Record recently published a feature giving more insight into how Montana’s pre-release centers work. The story New Lease on Life [1] reveals that prisoners transferred into the Helena Pre-Release Center are able to find jobs and in one year paid $48,000 in restitution and $147,000 in taxes.

The Center has built connections with the community, works with forty-seven employers and includes residents within a mile radius of the Center on the panel that selects people for the pre-release program. The Center also provides programs for the transitioning prisoners that help support their drug and alcohol recovery plans after prison, help build connections with family members, and help people learn budgeting and other life skills.

Montana has a total of six pre-release centers in the cities of Helena, Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Missoula, and Bozeman. More information about the Helena Pre-Release Center is available on the Helena Independent Record web site including photos of the center and a brief video segment.

This news brief is based on a story from the Helena Independent Record, New Lease on Life [2]. If the link is broken, check the newspaper’s archives.