Alpha House is a men’s Pre-release Center (PRC) located in Billings, MT, serves as an intermediate step between prisons and the community. Offenders live in this PRC under twenty-four hour a day supervision for approximately six months. The residents are required to obtain employment, participate in counseling, abstain from the use of drugs or alcohol, maintain strict accountability for facility rules, obtain a residence for release, and demonstrate that they are ready to return to the community as productive citizens.
Prior to the existence of PRC’s many prisoners entered the community ill prepared to be productive citizens because they could not locate employment or because the temptation to use alcohol or illegal drugs was too great. The intent of PRC programs is to give offenders the opportunity to return to society in a gradual manner so that they can establish a healthy, crime free lifestyle.
The Bureau of Prisons contracts with residential reentry centers (RRCs), also known as halfway houses, to provide assistance to inmates who are nearing release. RRCs provide a safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement, financial management assistance, and other programs and services. RRCs help inmates gradually rebuild their ties to the community and facilitate supervising ex-offenders' activities during this readjustment phase.