BOULDER -- The historic red brick Montana State Training School towers above the modern residential campus of Montana Developmental Center this sunny November day.

The architectural gem is a relic of a different time, where blind, deaf and mute students from Montana first came to boarding school here. Later, MDC was home to a community of developmentally disabled adults and children, offering a school, print shop, ranch, orchard, small train, carousel and even a pond with swan boat rides.

Much has changed since then.

Employee Larry LeRoux started working at the Montana Developmental Center 32 years ago, when much of the campus was still across the Boulder River, and the 300 to 500 clients included both children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Many clients were in wheelchairs. Mechanical restraints were common.

In 1996, MDC moved into the city of Boulder, behind Jefferson High School.

The campus's newer homes and emerald green, neatly trimmed lawns make it look like any other pleasant residential neighborhood. A school, white wooden church, and store add to the community feel.

"We have had people come on campus and want to buy a house here," said Kathy Zeeck, superintendent of MDC, who has worked at various staff positions at the facility for more than 30 years.

As the result of a lawsuit settled in 2004, many developmentally disabled individuals now get services in their community.

So MDC expanded its client base.

"In the past five years, our mission at this facility has radically changed," Zeeck said. "We began receiving people with offending types of behaviors that could put them in the courts and legal system."

MDC clients now are 18 or older, and about one-third of those committed to the facility have had a brush with the law.

Previously, many of these people might have been placed in the Montana State Warm Springs Hospital or Montana State Prison at Deer Lodge.

"The services at those places do not take into consideration developmental disabilities," she said, and their unique needs were not being met.

This new type of clientele hasn't been readily accepted by all members of the Boulder community. At two public meetings in March, some area residents questioned the safety and security for the Boulder community, particularly for children. MDC is an open campus with no security fencing separating it from the nearby JHS campus and a residential neighborhood along 4th Avenue.

Some citizens also questioned why these changes took place with no public comment from the larger community. The decisions came down from the Legislature and the courts, rather than MDC.

"I want to feel safe," said citizen and former MDC employee Celia Wolny at the March meeting.

Another citizen, Sabrina Steketee, whose father was a former superintendent at MDC, asked at that meeting if a fence could be constructed, considering the nature of some of the heinous crimes committed by several residents.

A new secure facility opens this month on the MDC campus to house those who are considered a potential safety risk to other MDC residents, staff or the people of Boulder. It is expected to address many of the security concerns of the public. It was built in response to an unfavorable review by the Center for Medicaid Services in 2002.

All clients must be civilly or criminally committed. Sometimes clients come to MDC on emergency order. However, they must get a court commitment hearing shortly after they arrive.

The Residential Facilities Screening Team at the Developmental Disabilities Program Office in Helena evaluates the individual's record and history before placing him or her at MDC, Zeeck said.

"Often they are very aggressive. They may have harmed someone in their treatment group. They may hit or throw things," Zeeck said. "Typically the place they are coming from has tried unsuccessfully to find medications to treat the client's symptoms.

"A number of individuals are here on sexual offenses," she added.

Frequently the clients are in their teens or early 20s, which can be a difficult transition as they move from school to adult life.

"Often mental health problems appear at that time. They go into crisis at that point," Zeeck said.

Initially, clients who have threatening behaviors are placed on one of the two locked wards, where they can be evaluated, she said. Soon they will be going to the new state-of-the-art secure facility instead.

That facility includes three residential, home-like cottages and a separate administration and treatment facility, which is surrounded by a 10-foot-high security fence, so individuals can't freely leave the area.

"It will have a feeling of space and open areas, so people will not feel confined and locked in," Zeeck said. "We're very proud of our new unit."

Some clients will stay on the secure unit for a short time, while they are evaluated. Others, because of the risks their behaviors pose, will live there.

Sex offenders receive personal and group therapy sessions at least once a week, or as needed, depending on the individual. A Montana Sex Offender Association certified counselor provides therapy sessions one day a week.

Two MDC therapists also are getting training to be certified sex offender counselors.

"Our psychologists do a lot of individual work, dealing with situations" that arise in different settings, said Zeeck. "Everyone here has a personal support plan that's developed at their 30-day meeting, then another at 90 days."

Later, a support plan is drafted and reviewed annually. It outlines their treatment, MDC's expectations and what the client will gain.

A behavioral treatment plan explains how staff should work with the clients. They also have a psychiatric and mental health plan.

"Everything is treatment based," said Mark Mihailovich, who is a physical therapy medical technician.

Twenty years ago he started as a psychiatric aide working on a unit, providing direct care to clients.

He and occupational therapy aides do everything from teaching stretching and providing physical fitness training to working with clients on vocational skills or helping autistic clients acclimate to their environment, such as handling noise.

"There's no cookie-cutter approach to anything," Mihailovich said. "With every new client, there's new ideas and new challenges."

Mihailovich has seen clients successfully move back into the community. He mentions a criminally committed client who has moved to the community -- under the guidance of a probation officer -- and is exceeding all expectations.

If they struggle on the outside, but commit no crime, they can come back to MDC into the general population and the staff works with them again to help them succeed.

It's a process LeRoux called "fine tuning."

Most clients stay approximately two years, said Zeeck. Some, who just need short-term stabilization or an adjustment of medications, may stay a few weeks to a few months.

"The days of MDC being a life-long place to live are gone," she said.

Clients can take a wide range of classes including proper touching, communication skills, sex offender treatment, nutrition and money management. Soon there will be classes in anger management and substance abuse. If clients work on the MDC campus, they also attend staff development classes.

"There's a huge emphasis on choice," Mihailovich said. "We used to be schedule-oriented. It's not like that any more. They choose their jobs, food and their recreational activities."

A job coach helps clients find the right skills for the professions they desire.

"We do a lot of recycling," said LeRoux, noting that MDC has contracts with people in Helena and Butte.

Clients also do janitorial and maintenance work and maintain the grounds -- mowing lawns, shoveling and raking.

They run the small campus store, where they stock snack foods and beverages. There 's also a small video store and free, donated clothing is neatly arranged and displayed on store racks. Clients stock shelves, wait on customers, manage the inventory and operate the cash register.

As far as recreation, "the sky's the limit -- as long as it's an appropriate activity, they can do it," said Mihailovich.

Staff works with them to determine if it's a good choice. If they want to go skiing, they need to evaluate if downhill skiing is the best choice or if cross-country would be better.

"We try to encourage people to expand their interests and try more things," said Zeeck. "We try to get them out to a much wider range of activities."

But some activities are limited by the clients' offenses.

"We would not want an individual with several sex offenses against children to be put at a school event," she said. "We don't want them to be accused against or to put the community at risk."

The recreation center is in MDC's former school building. Like all the main buildings, the hallway floors sparkle from polishing and buffing and plants thrive in sunny areas along the corridors and near the rec room.

Here, Mihailovich plays ping-pong with a client. Nearby are foosball, air hockey, pool and computer games. Down the corridor is a ceramics room, where statues and masks are in various stages of glazing.

Farther down the corridor are fitness and workout rooms and a swimming pool, which is open three to five times per week.

Across the lush lawn lies a cluster of six MDC units or residences, modern wood-frame houses with brickwork along their fronts. One sports a scarecrow decoration.

Indoors, staff and clients clean and check in a food delivery. In the comfortable living room, furnished with plush burgundy sofas, a rap group performs on the large-screen TV.

Clients choose what they want to watch or listen to, LeRoux said. The staff team monitors CDs and movies for violence and whether they're deemed appropriate for the clients.

If staff should decide to restrict an item or material, that decision goes to a Human Rights Committee, made up of staff, community members and a representative of the State Board of Visitors, unless the restriction is part of a judge's court order.

A short way down the sidewalk, the white painted wooden Good Shepherd Church welcomes clients for services at 3 and 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Bible class at 6 p.m.

Pastor Gale Everson, who is also a member of the Human Rights Committee, said most clients attend the non-denominational church.

Everson said MDC tries to helps clients make their dreams come true.

One client wanted to fly on her own to Nebraska to visit an aunt and uncle, said Everson. The staff worked with her on each component of the plan, so she'd have the knowledge and skills to do it -- from handling airports and strangers to managing money.

Another client dreams of going to Disneyland.

When it's time for the client to move back into the community, most ultimately can decide where to live, LeRoux said.

Some who go back to their communities will need around-the-clock help, others move to supervised group homes. Some will have their own apartments with some supervision.

"It all depends on the individual," said Zeeck. "It's best for them to go back to the community. It's more normal. It's more natural. It's a real life."

In criminal commitments, team staff and the probation officer will decide on the best setting.

While LeRoux notes that MDC has evolved in the past quarter century, he acknowledged some older methods still have to be used sometimes. While MDC staff doesn't like using restraints, they've had to eight times so far this year.

"Considering the challenging behaviors some of our clients pose, I think this is an impressive number," he said. "Since 1975, it's changed a lot. However ... the goal of our facility will be to eliminate the use of mechanical restraints altogether. I feel this is certainly achievable."

For videos and a complete list of stories in the IR's four-part series on Boulder's institutions, check out www.helenair.com/boulder

Reporter Marga Lincoln: 447-4074 or marga.lincoln@helenair.com