The state Department of Correction signed a contract this afternoon with The Connection, Inc. that establishes a sex offender rehabilitation residence in Montville.

Cochegan House, on the grounds of Corrigan Radgowski Correctional Institution, will provide 24 beds shared equally by the Department of Correction and the state judicial department. The first offenders are expected to move in Jan. 1, 2011, Brian Garnett, spokesman for the corrections department, said today.

The facility will serve sex offender inmates preparing for release from prison and those who have been released and are on probation with court orders to receive treatment.

Garnett said The Connection, Inc. and the corrections department considered five other locations.

"The commissioner called this a difficult decision," Garnett said. "There was a very comprehensive process. The memorandum of understanding is more than 60 pages."

Garnett said the department would continue to work with Montville's public safety committee.

Montville Mayor Joseph Jaskiewicz questioned that process. He believes the department intended all along to select his town, which was the original location suggested by The Connection, Inc. when it submitted its proposal to operate the state-mandated facility.

I'm not a happy man," Jaskiewicz said. "I think this was a done deal on day one. They said they looked at five locations. I want to see the reports on them. The Connection, Inc. is already in Montville. They run the half-way house at Cochegan now. I'll continue to fight this any way I can. This is not the best location. I'm disgusted."