Committee completes report on proposals to expand Montana prison capacity • Daily Montanan

A week after it was confirmed that the Montana Department of Corrections had quietly modified its contract with private prison company CoreCivic to send an additional 120 state prisoners to Arizona, Director Brian Gootkin told the state's legislative committee responsible for capacity expansion on Tuesday that he would be happy with any plan under consideration as long as it increased prison capacity.

The Special Committee on Correctional Capacity and Systems Development is finalizing its report on how exactly that can be accomplished. The draft report, presented at Tuesday's meeting, includes several options, including expanding the capacity of Montana's state prison, building a new women's prison and possibly housing more inmates in contract prisons like the Saguaro Correction Center in Arizona.

When Rep. John Fitzpatrick (R-Anaconda) asked Gootkin which of the recommendations the Department of Corrections would prioritize, he said nothing, saying only that he saw a need for both the male and female populations, who are expected to populate both areas over the next decade.

“The simple and brutally honest answer is we take what we can get. We are suffering so much,” Gootkin said. “But in terms of priorities, it's hard to say because men are our largest number, but women are our biggest problem and our biggest challenge.”

He told the committee that the inmate population is “higher than ever.” As of Tuesday, there were 474 state prisoners in county jails, and 178 of them were awaiting transfer to prison. He said that's one reason why 120 more inmates are being sent to Arizona this month, and the contract for extra beds between the agency and Missoula County is also expiring because the two sides couldn't reach an agreement.

However, he apologized to the committee for not informing members about the contract changes, which now run until July 2026, and the additional prisoners in Arizona.

“I had 144 beds that I needed to take care of immediately, so I made that decision. And knowing that we didn't have any extra money in our base, we looked at how we could do that within our budget and work to move those people to lessen the impact on the local sheriffs,” he said. “And so I apologize for not communicating that to the legislators. That's my fault. However, I made the decision that we needed to move people to lessen the impact.”

Much of the remainder of the meeting focused on the Department of Corrections' financial needs to advance the ongoing expansion of less-strict prison housing at the state prison, approved during last year's session, as well as ways to expand prison capacity for the male and female populations beyond that.

According to the committee's preliminary final report, the number of male offenders has increased by 57% since 2000, while the number of female offenders has increased by 170% over the same period. This means that the total number of offenders has increased by about 65% since 2000, while Montana's total population has grown by 26% in comparison.

The committee has since discussed, reflected in the report, that part of the increase is due to an increase in more violent and serious crimes punishable by longer prison sentences, even though crime has declined overall in Montana. The number of first-time offenders going to prison also rose sharply after 2019.

The committee's report also projects that there will be 600 more inmates in the system by fiscal year 2034 as criminals continue to receive longer sentences for more violent offenses. However, when you factor in state prisoners still in county jails waiting for a bed in a prison, the number rises to 900 additional inmates.

Last year's legislature approved $170 million to replace lower-tier housing units and renovate another unit at the Montana State Penitentiary, creating an additional 117 beds. A construction official for the project said Tuesday the planning phase is nearly complete and construction crews hope to begin construction next spring.

However, the draft report says the project will need an additional $41 million to fund infrastructure for the expansion, including replacing the water distribution system, a wastewater pond system and an old electrical system, and will request an additional $6 million to upgrade the prison grounds.

The draft report also considers building two additional 256-bed housing units and a programming facility adjacent to the three new low-side units, which would use the same infrastructure and increase the number of available beds from 768 to 1,280.

If MPs and the ministry choose that option next year, it would cost an estimated $128 million to complete the project by 2029 if included in next year's budget. However, waiting until 2035 to budget for such a project would cost an estimated $202 million, the draft report said.

Another proposal from the committee is to fund the construction of a new women's prison in Montana. This would increase the capacity from 240 to 450-500 beds, as the female population has recently been growing faster than the male population. This would also free up the 240 beds in the existing women's prison. The report estimates this would cost between $283 million and $400 million.

Gootkin said the Justice Department has had initial discussions with Yellowstone County about sharing space for a women's prison and a new county jail. He said he has also spoken with the Cascade County sheriff about freeing up beds at a jail in Great Falls and with CoreCivic about increasing the number of available beds at the Crossroads Correctional Facility in Shelby.

The final option in the committee's draft report would be to send more inmates to private prisons like the one in Arizona, leaving about 600 inmates in Montana housed in contract facilities.

According to the report, this would cost an estimated $232 million over the next decade – about $104 million more than it would cost to further expand the beds at Montana State Prison.

Several lawmakers said that while carrying out their statutory duties as a select committee to figure out how to expand the state's prison capacity, they would prefer to hear more concrete priorities from Gootkin and his department rather than a “we'll take whatever” approach.

“You were asked what the priority would be for the department. I think you should think about that between now and September 17th, because I don't think we can get to everything on that list,” committee chairman Sen. John Esp (R-Big Timber) told Gootkin. “But what is the most pressing need and how can we best meet that need?”

He added that the department has a command of the population and should have a “clear idea” of what its priorities should be. And Fitzpatrick noted that lawmakers will not have a $2 billion budget surplus next year like they did last session and will need to be more selective in choosing which projects to fund.

“I think we need to move forward with at least some recommendations. Simply listing options, I think, is a way of saying we can't choose and we just have to choose,” he said. “We have a situation with our prison population, both male and female, that is basically out of control. Given the crime epidemic not only in Montana but across the country, there's not much we can do to stop it, and we need to deal with the problem.”

Esp will have his first opportunity to present the preliminary draft report to the Interim Committee on Law and Justice on September 10. The committee will then meet again on September 17 to again hear input from the Department of Justice, CoreCivic and possibly others before finalizing his report for submission to the House Finance Committee and the Governor.

HB5 final report draft