It’s easy to see why East Lawrence residents were concerned by an announcement that the new Salvation Army shelter also would serve as a halfway house for state prison parolees and it’s good to see that the Army is backing away from what apparently was a poorly considered plan.

On Tuesday, Rich Forney, administrator of the Lawrence Salvation Army, announced that he would like the agency’s new facility near 19th Street and Haskell Avenue to have about a half-dozen beds earmarked for people who were on parole from state prisons and needed transitional housing. “As part of our practice of compassion, we have to provide for those people who have paid their dues and want a second opportunity,” Forney said.

While Forney’s compassion is laudable, providing transitional housing for parolees is a far different mission from the new facility’s stated purpose of providing housing and training for homeless families and individuals.

It’s difficult to know whether Forney was simply mistaken in his statement or Salvation Army officials backpedaled on their plan after facing negative reactions in Lawrence, but, in any case, regional Salvation Army leaders wasted no time in disclaiming the idea, announcing on Wednesday that Forney’s statement “was premature” and “there is no desire from the Salvation Army to get involved in a halfway house program.”

Plans to move the Salvation Army homeless shelter to a site near 19th and Haskell already had survived a not-in-my-backyard protest from residents of the surrounding neighborhood. They worried, as most people would, about the people and activity it would bring to the area and were assured that participants would be carefully screened and monitored. Their confidence was understandably shaken by Tuesday’s announcement that convicted, paroled felons now could be among those housed at the shelter.

A Salvation Army facility for parolees in Kansas City accepts both violent and nonviolent offenders, its director told the Journal-World, and has a curfew as well as strict prohibitions on drinking and drug use. He said the highly structured program actually made the community safer.

That may be true, but it seems unlikely the Lawrence Salvation Army is prepared to staff and operate a parolee program at that level, which could mean problems not only for the other programs at the homeless shelter but also in the community.

The Salvation Army has done the right thing by backing off this action. It’s possible such a program could be established and accepted in Lawrence if it is well staffed and well planned, but if the Salvation Army decides to revisit its desire to provide transitional housing for parolees at a future date, that move should be fully discussed with city officials and the community before the plan moves forward.