AIRWAY HEIGHTS - Of the inmates currently in custody at Airway Heights Corrections Center 20-percent of them have committed a sex-related offense. Now there's a new program to treat them before they're released back into the community.

Washington's Department of Corrections is now doubling the number of prisoners it can send through its sex offender treatment program. Inmates at Airway Heights can now receive sex offender treatment before they are released back into the community.

While this new program at the prison will not bring our area any new sex offenders it will help treat the ones already here which is a radical shift because up until now they were not getting any sex offender treatment.

"We've had guys that have victimized children to adults, strangers, family members multiple victims," Shandra Carter with the Washington Department of Corrections said.

So much money has been spent on keeping sex offenders locked up that only recently has the flow of dollars been directed toward treatment and there's a surprising number of inmates want that counseling.

"The ability to own what they have done and be able to talk about and not lie or be secretive is a skill they have to develop in order to be productive out there so we're just asking them to start doing that in here," Carter said.

However by entering the program sex offenders could be making themselves a target for violence which is why prison officials added panic alarms and a surveillance system in a newly constructed treatment center. Most of all officials hope the general population will respect fellow inmates trying to get help with their problem.

"Hopefully with that additional information that will ensure they're not targeting these guys and understand  they want to do better for themselves, they don't want to commit any more crimes of that nature," Captain Ron Haynes with the Airway Heights Corrections Center said.

In fact inmates who have completed the year-long treatment are twice as likely not to re-offend.

To help insure that having a new treatment center here doesn't result in more sex offenders being released in Spokane there is a state law that says when inmates leave the corrections center they are taken back to the county where they were convicted.