First group of DOC inmates graduates from new Integrated Correctional Programming Model class

DEER LODGE –On April 10, Dakota McCarty had two reasons to smile: the Board of Pardons and Parole granted him parole, and he was one of the first graduates of the Montana Department of Corrections’ new Integrated Correctional Programming Model (ICPM) class.

“I feel like what I took away the most was playing into the strengths I have as a person and catching the excuses that lead me back to prison and becoming a statistic,” he said. “I’ve been a public safety concern out there, and I’ve been a statistic. It’s not something I’m proud of. But I think with this program, it really helps me catch that before I become an issue for the safety of the community.”

Following the passage of the 2017 Montana Legislature’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative, the DOC began shifting to evidence-based programming. These types of programs use research and the best available data to guide policy and practice decisions to improve outcomes for offenders and their victims.

The department’s research on that type of programming led to Correctional Service of Canada’s ICPM. COVID-19 delayed implementation of the program due to the restriction on travel between the U.S. and Canada, but Correctional Service of Canada representatives visited Montana last fall to train DOC employees to deliver ICPM classes. Montana State Prison and Crossroads Correctional Center have implemented the ICPM and expansion of the program to other DOC facilities is forthcoming.

Previously, the department used separate programming to address a variety of offender needs. Now, the ICPM for male offenders, and the Women Offender Correctional Program (WOCP) for female offenders, address substance use problems, criminal thinking, anger management, and more at the same time in one program.

“This is a very big day for the members of the DOC team who worked so hard to bring the ICPM to our prisons and the inmates who graduated in this first-ever class,” DOC Deputy Director Cynthia Wolken said. “We have entered a new chapter in rehabilitation in Montana in our efforts to reduce recidivism.”

For some of the eight inmates who graduated Wednesday, completing the program means their court-mandated programming requirements have been met. Other inmates will participate in the ICPM maintenance track, and some will continue to take programming classes outside of the ICPM.

Travis Tayler has completed other treatment programs, but he said ICPM was different.
“(Other programs involved) a lot of shame and a lot of making me feel like a bad person just because you did bad things,” he said. “But this group was a lot more helpful in making you see that you made some bad choices, but you’re not a bad person. It pointed out some flaws in my character and some mistakes I made, but it also pointed out my personal strengths and how I can grow in those.”