For convicted sex offenders who deny they did anything wrong, completing the full treatment program at Montana State Prison is impossible -- and, therefore, parole is out.

That's because most sex offenders are required to complete the treatment before they can be considered for parole. And if you deny your crime, you can't complete the treatment.

"Those guys kind of get stuck," says Blair Hopkins, clinical services administrator at the state prison in Deer Lodge. "They need to be able to admit to some type of sexual inappropriate behavior. For someone who just flat-out denies everything, they really can't complete (the second phase)."

Hopkins and other counselors estimate that 15 percent to 25 percent of those convicted of sex offenses are "deniers," who say they didn't commit the crime.

A small fraction of those might actually be innocent, counselors say.

But that makes no difference in how they're treated under the treatment regiment or parole rules, Hopkins says: "We have to assume that if they've been convicted of the offense, they've done it. If I said, 'I believe you,' then I'll have 300 guys at my door saying that."

Montana's prison system has a relatively high amount of sex offenders, which includes people convicted of rape, sexual assault, incest, prostitution, child molestation or indecent exposure.

Hopkins looked at 20 states in late 2006, and found that for most, 12 percent to 16 percent of their inmates are sex offenders.

In Montana, it's 25 percent, and one-third of the men incarcerated at the State Prison -- 500 inmates -- are sex offenders.

That means long waiting lists for treatment programs at the prison. About 250 sex offenders in prison are on the lists now, and the wait for Phase II treatment can be up to two years.

Each year, about 65 sex offenders leave prison without treatment, either because they refused it or because their sentence expired before they could complete it.

Most sex-offender therapists in Montana say it makes more sense, and would be no less safe for the public, to send fewer sex offenders to prison and more directly to treatment outside the prison, while on probation.

"I thought it was too lenient when I started (28 years ago)," says veteran psychologist Michael Scolatti of Missoula, who has treated hundreds of sex offenders. "Now, we're enacting laws that don't allow us to show some discretion."

Roger Dowty, another Missoula sex-offender therapist, says he also tries to find ways to treat even those who deny their crimes.

Recent studies have shown that "deniers" are at no greater risk to re-offend than those who admit to their crimes, counselors say.

Statistics from the state Corrections Department show that those who don't get any treatment are a greater risk.

A 2007 report by the state said only 2 percent of sex offenders who complete treatment return to prison for a new sex crime, while among those who don't complete treatment, the rate is 25 percent.