Montana doubles number of inmates in private prison in Arizona • Daily Montanan

The Montana Department of Corrections this month doubled the number of inmates at the CoreCivic correctional facility in Arizona and signed a new contract with the company that will keep prisoners housed at the facility until at least July 2026.

According to Brian Gootkin, director of corrections, the state still needs more prison beds because there are still nearly 200 people in county jails waiting to be transferred to a prison. The beds are also needed in Arizona to make room at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, which still had too many beds as of Thursday.

The Montana State News Bureau first reported on the new contract and the increasing number of inmates at the Saguaro Correction Center in Eloy, Arizona, on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Department of Corrections gave the Daily Montanan a copy of the new contract on Thursday.

In November, the agency announced in a news release that the original $7.9 million contract with CoreCivic to house 120 inmates at the Saguaro facility over a two-year period had been finalized, and 30 inmates had already been transported there.

That was not the case with the most recent contract and prisoner transfer. The contract was signed on Aug. 14 and is valid through Aug. 1, according to the document. The state prison's daily occupancy report showed 120 inmates at the facility on Aug. 5, 149 on Aug. 6, 178 on Aug. 12, 209 on Aug. 15 and 239 on Aug. 19. On Thursday, the report showed 246 Montana inmates at the Saguaro facility.

“Managing Montana's prison population has always been challenging due to limited bed capacity to accommodate fluctuations,” Gootkin said in a written statement Thursday. “The department continues to work with the Special Committee on Correctional Capacity and Systems Development (HB 5) and looks forward to the committee's recommendations to the Montana Legislature in 2025 regarding long-term solutions. In the meantime, the department is evaluating various options and taking actions to meet the needs of Montana's offender population.”

The new contract maintains the $90 per day per bed rate that the original contract between the state and CoreCivic included. The original contract ran from Nov. 1, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2025, while the new contract runs from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2026. The terms of the original contract would put the cost to Montana for the 120 beds at about $2.9 million for the first nine months.

If the $90 rate doesn't change, the new contract would see the state pay about $16 million for the 240 inmates. The contract says it can't run for more than seven years, including extensions, but the rates can change if the state agrees to an extension.

Meanwhile, the committee discussing Montana's correctional capacity has learned that Montana will need additional prison beds in the coming years even as the state prison is renovated, and adding more inmates to the Arizona facility has been discussed as one of the options.

Gootkin said funds for the additional 120 beds were reallocated from the Department of Corrections' existing budget after the contract with Missoula County's Missoula Assessment and Sanction Center was terminated.

A tender for the safe bed contract was opened on June 18 and closed on July 18, according to the document. The notice of intent to award the contract was published on July 25, awarding the contract to CoreCivic, which was the only company to submit a bid, according to the notice. Out of 5,250 possible points that could be awarded under the scoring system, the company scored 4,294, the document shows.

At a committee meeting on HB5 in March, Republican Rep. John Fitzpatrick of Anaconda told the committee about his visit to Saguaro. He said you could “operate on the floors of the cell blocks” because it was so clean, and praised the design, staff and programs there.

“I think it was a very good decision by Montana to enter into this contract,” he said. “And if we need an extension of this contract in the next session, I think it would be very good to have that conversation with CoreCivic.”

The Montana State News Bureau reported Wednesday that the committee chairman and his deputy were unaware of the new contract and beds, but the committee chairman, Sen. John Esp (R-Big Timber), said he understood the move.

Gootkin said the department has been open about its need for additional beds in the meantime, after funding for the first beds became a political football during last year's legislative session, with funding initially increased and then cut before the funds reached the finish line.

“The Department has been transparent with stakeholders and legislators about population growth, the challenges it presents, and efforts to address it,” Gootkin said. “DOC participated in a public RFP process for the additional prison beds and is committed to providing accurate information on the daily population report dashboard on its publicly accessible website.”

He said despite the efforts of the department and other criminal divisions across the state, 494 people were still incarcerated as of Thursday morning and 194 people in county jails awaiting transport to prison. He said work continues to find solutions to overcrowding in jails and prisons.

“The department met with several Montana sheriffs last week to discuss the challenges and ways we can work together to address the problems in the short and long term,” Gootkin said.

The HB5 committee is scheduled to meet again next Tuesday. A June presentation showed the state estimates it will need an additional 419 to 539 beds by 2029, depending on whether it continues to send prisoners out of state or keeps them in Montana.

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