Community Counseling and Correctional Services (CCCS) Inc is a not for profit, private correctional facility in Butte that contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections (MDOC) to incarcerate and provide treatment for adult offenders. CCCS Inc contracts with MDOC to provide addiction treatment at WATCH, the men’s program at Warm Springs and Watche, the women’s program in Glendive.
The men's WATCH program has a capacity of 115 individuals. CCCS Inc contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections for a per diem daily rate of $63.69. The total daily per diem rate is $7324.35. The treatment program lasts for 6 months or 180 days. The total cost of treatment for 115 individuals for 6 months is $1,318,383.00.
The women's WATCHe program has a capacity of 50 individuals. CCCS Inc contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections for a per diem daily rate of $103.62. The total daily per diem rate is $5181.00. The treatment lasts for 6 months or 180 days. The total cost of treatment for 50 individuals for 6 months is $932,580.00.
The total cost for 6 months of treatment for WATCH and WATCHe is $2,250,963.00.
The 2017 Legislature changed state law concerning treatment programs for people convicted of fourth or subsequent DUI. Whereas people convicted of a fourth or more felony DUI charge were previously required to either serve prison time or complete WATCh’s in-patient treatment, House Bill 133, a sweeping sentencing-reform bill passed last year, contains a provision that allows them to be sentenced to an appropriate treatment court program instead, which Mike Thatcher (CEO of CCCS Inc) finds baffling.
Baffling? Participants in treatment court programs are enrolled for 12 - 18 months at a cost of $4000.00 per offender. If all 165 WATCH's participants were treated in treatment court programs the total cost would be $660,000.00 for 12 months of treatment vs the $2,250,963.00 for 6 months of treatment through the CCCS Inc WATCH programs. In treatment court the offender has access to a social worker, an addiction counselor, a probation officer and a public attorney. They are required to find their own housing, get a job, pay taxes and are at home with their children rather than the children being farmed out to foster care or elderly grandparents. The job requirements for CCCS Inc is a high school diploma or GED vs a social worker, addiction counselor, a probation officer and a public attorney, all educated professionals.
Mike Thatcher and the Montana Department of Corrections operates on an antiquated belief system. Evidence-based practices (this is a popular phrase now used in the correctional system) shows that addictions are the result of early childhood trauma. Mike Thatcher believes Montanans "advocate that people should be completing WATCh as a ‘pound of flesh.’”
I believe that most Montanans advocate for the ability to provide housing, food, education and opportunities for their families. The antiquated "pound of flesh" phrase comes from Shylock, a character in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. He is a Jewish money-lender who lends money to Antonio. When Antonio is unable to pay the money back, Shylock says he has the right to cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. I don't believe that Montanans want to cut flesh from the bodies of victims of childhood trauma.
With a salary of a quarter of a million dollars a year, Mike Thatcher can afford a Shakespearean belief of cutting the flesh from trauma victims. Other Montanans cannot afford the huge tax burden of supporting CCCS Inc and the Montana Department of Corrections antiquated belief system. William Shakespeare died 400 years ago. In 400 years we have evolved to evidence-based practices for treating early childhood trauma. That evidence-based practice does not include cutting flesh from people.
Montanans advocate for improving the lives of their families. Unnecessary tax burdens of millions of dollars does not improve the lives of Montana tax payers, it only improves the bank balances of CCCS Inc and the political position of the Montana Department of Corrections.
Are you still baffled Mike Thatcher (CEO of CCCS Inc) and Reginald Michael (Director of MDOC)?
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