It’s out there, and it’s gaining ground.

The opposition to a plan for a prison early-release center in Kootenai County is building, opponents say, and they wonder why local legislators voted to fund a proposal that could bring the center to Kootenai County.

North Idaho legislators voted yes to an appropriation bill in the last legislative session that would provide $12 million to build a prison halfway house in the 10 northern counties.

But many local activists say the center is destined for Kootenai County.

Athol resident Deborah Rose, who heads up much of the opposition, has gathered more than 3,000 signatures from residents who don’t want a facility here.

She plans to present the petition to lawmakers and Department of Correction officials to let them know their vote wasn’t well received among constituents.

Rose said she will not stop the petition until it makes an impact with lawmakers and prison officials.

“I will keep gathering signatures until they go away,” she said.

But local lawmakers said they were in the dark when they voted for the appropriation.

District 3 Sen. Don Cheatham of Post Falls said that despite standing with the rest of the North Idaho delegation and voting yes to the Corrections spending bill — Rep. Heather Scott was absent during the vote — the appropriation for the early-release center was vague enough to not cause concern.

The $12 million was part of a much larger appropriation that he also supported, which included two additional bills and more than $37 million.

Cheatham, a former Los Angeles police officer, said he doesn’t support building a center in Kootenai County unless it has the backing of the residents.

Community safety, Cheatham said, takes priority.

“I don’t want them coming back here unless they complete their sentence,” Cheatham said.

Rep. John Green, who represents District 2, said he voted for the appropriation without knowing of the plan to bring an early release center to Kootenai County.

“It was non specific,” Green said. “There was no talk of where the facility was going to go.”

Green, a former lawman, an attorney and sheriff’s candidate, expects there will be a lot more discussion on whether the prison center lands in Kootenai County.

“The public has to have a say,” he said.

Like Cheatham, Green believes early-release centers, when occupied by non-violent offenders, can serve as a release valve for the state’s overcrowded prison system.

“We have to come up with an option to get (inmates) to transition into society,” Green said.

But Correction officials must provide an assurance of safety to the public.

“The program itself is not the problem,” he said. “But right now, there are too many unknowns.”

Despite voting to approve spending $12 million for a North Idaho center, District 4 Sen. Mary Souza of Coeur d’Alene is also opposed to having the center in Kootenai County.

Souza said the appropriation was part of a larger bill to approve money for the prison department, but she was not aware of any plans to build a halfway house near her district — which includes a small, densely populated, urban chunk of the county.

“The topic was never specifically discussed,” Souza said.

Like her colleagues, Souza said the early-release center is not a good fit for a county that so far has voiced its opposition to the center.

“There are places in the state where communities are more open to accommodating (a facility),” she said.

Souza said the center will likely not be successful in a place where it is not wanted.

“That just causes resentment,” she said.

Although he supports new ideas to address an overcrowded state prison system that would bypass building another $500 million prison, Rep. Paul Amador of District 4 said that without the public’s consent, he would not support a local release facility.

“I don’t know that it’s a good thing,” Amador said. “We as a community need to have a say in it.”

He supports the Correction officials’ efforts to think outside the box, and for providing ways to transition inmates from prison to society.

“People are going to get out of prison,” Amador said. “Hopefully they can create a process that makes it less likely for them to go back in.”

As for building transitional housing in Kootenai County, he said, more discussions need to take place.

“It’s an ongoing conversation,” he said.