March 12, 2006

Dear Editor:

On March 10th, Jennifer McKee detailed some of Montana's prison problems in "Corrections in crunch for cash, seeks ideas." Several ideas mentioned in the article deserve serious consideration.

• With our aging prison population comes new medical and mental health challenges. Providing for these inmates in a special facility makes good sense.
• Reducing recidivism requires re-entry programs that help an offender find housing and a job. Providing unemployment benefits for three months is a very creative approach.

But these ideas, and many others, will require funding and therein lies the problem. The Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations (APCTO) suggests that Montana consider public-private correctional partnerships as a way of developing and funding these needs.

Such partnerships bring an infusion of new capital, leaving the State's resources for schools, healthcare and infrastructure.
• Private operators are particularly flexible and innovative in dealing with special populations.
• Recent studies by the Allegheny Institute, two Vanderbilt University professors, and Abt Associates, with funding from the Department of Justice, all found that public-private correctional partnerships reduce costs, provide a high quality of service, and an enhanced level of accountability for results through performance-based contracts.

ACPTO commends the Governor and the Director for their initiatives and encourages consideration of public-private correctional partnerships as a part of the solution for Montana.

Sincerely,
 

 
Paul Doucette
Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations
www.apcto.org