Earlier this year the Montana Legislature voted to close the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder and transition its roughly 60 clients to community based group homes. A committee of lawmakers and community members has been working out the details of the transition. Thursday that committee took a tour of the MDC campus in Boulder. This slideshow from MTPR Capitol Reporter Steve Jess shows some of the things the committee saw at MDC.
Montana politics, elections and legislative news
Slideshow: Legislative Committee Tours Montana Developmental Center
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A plaque with MDC's mission statement hangs on the wall.
Steve Jess
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Committee members tour the common room in the high security Assessment and Stabilization Unit, or ASU. Up to four residents share the building. The furniture is designed to resist damage.
Steve Jess
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Damage resistant furniture in the Assessment and Stabilization Unit (ASU)
Steve Jess
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These concrete tables used to be installed outside MDC housing units. Officials say they had to be removed after clients damaged them.
Steve Jess
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A client bedroom at the Assessment and Stabilization Unit (ASU).
Steve Jess
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A common room in a regular housing unit.
Steve Jess
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Many rooms in the MDC's former hospital wing are abandoned. Here a former medical office stores unneeded air conditioners.
Steve Jess
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Committee members tour a former operating room in the MDC's old medical wing, which is now used to house communications equipment.
Steve Jess
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A courtyard outside the Assessment and Stabilization Unit. Operations Director Bruce Guilio says the ground is bare because clients tend to pull out any sprinkler heads the staff installs.
Steve Jess
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MDC operations director Bruce Guilio speaks to Transition Committee members touring the MDC campus Thursday.
Steve Jess
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MDC acting Superintendent Tammy Ros speaks to committee members inside the center's medical department.
Steve Jess