State may renovate, convert Pine Hills into adult female prison

The Montana Department of Corrections announced on Thursday it was looking to move some adult female prisoners and potentially renovate a Miles City facility in an effort to address overcrowding issues.

DOC is “exploring” housing some adult female prisoners at Pine Hills Correctional Facility in Miles City, a large facility currently used to house a small number of juvenile male prisoners in eastern Montana.

Adult female prisoners are currently housed at Riverside in Boulder, and at Montana Women’s Prison in Billings. Inmates currently housed at Riverside would move to Pine Hills and Riverside would then become where juvenile male prisoners go.

Pine Hills has 144 beds, while Riverside has 50. Montana Women’s Prison in Billings has been, “holding at or above its capacity of 250” and as of Thursday afternoon there were 66 adult women in county custody awaiting transport to state prison.

Additionally, the Department of Corrections said that the number of juvenile male inmates has declined from 100 to “about 30” during the last 12 years. 

Montana has the second-highest female adult incarceration rate in the nation, trailing only Idaho, according to InvestigateWest, sourcing 2023 Department of Justice data.

The Montana Legislature has directed hundreds of millions of dollars during the past several sessions to address the overcrowding problem, including $250 million in House Bill 833, which was spearheaded by Rep. John Fitzpatrick, an Anaconda Republican. 

That money was allocated to either build or renovate a new women’s prison and several cities expressed interest in housing the facility. 

“In recent years, Montana’s correctional capacity has not kept pace with our state’s needs,” DOC Director Eric Strauss said in a press release, adding they will “be able to leverage our existing infrastructure to more effectively serve those in our care.”

He went on to say it will also “maintain our commitments” to employees and the communities where those facilities are located.

Last year, when Gov. Greg Gianforte toured Riverside, the plan was to increase the capacity at Riverside to about 100 beds for adult females. In a press release, the Department of Corrections pointed to crowding as an issue.

“The landscape of corrections is constantly evolving,” Strauss said in a press release. “We need to be nimble, and the investment by Governor Gianforte and the Montana Legislature in the department is allowing us to do that. We have a large-scale construction project underway at Montana State Prison to address capacity concerns among our adult male population. The changes we described today will allow us to do the same with our female inmates while maintaining a safe and efficient facility for Montana’s youth offenders.”

Shifting facility purpose — as well as inmate populations — has been common around Montana  in recent years. Riverside has had different uses, including being a state mental hospital and, prior to holding adult female prisoners, it was used to hold elderly male prisoners.

Just last year, Pine Hills was holding male prisoners, and had previously held male juveniles before that. 

At that time, former DOC director Brian Gootkin said in a press release that its young male prisoners were “more violent than ever” and that 42% of them were involved in two gangs.

Montana juvenile female prisoners in Idaho were also moved last year, with the women’s prison system in the neighboring state now under intense scrutiny by the Idaho Legislature. 

Montana also has a large adult male out-of-state prison population, which was housed at two different facilities in Arizona and Mississippi until they were consolidated in Mississippi earlier this year.

There are currently about 600 male prisoners housed out of state in Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi. Families and advocacy organizations have raised questions about conditions at that facility, and legislators have expressed a desire to tour the facility.

Montana State Prison plans to add 900 beds for men outside of Deer Lodge, which a recent budget document said are planned to be fully available in fiscal year 2031.

Montana’s fiscal year starts in July, meaning that likely would be sometime in the summer of 2030. State prison officials have said parts of the facility are planned to be online in 2029. 

“The five new units that are under construction are expected to be operational in early 2029 as planned,” DOC spokesperson Carolynn Stocker said in an email. “Projects that are, and were, anticipated to extend beyond 2029 are the renovation of Unit D and potentially others.”

But that document also warned, “if offender populations continue to grow or if the full 900 beds are not realized, out-of-state placements may still be needed beyond FY 2031.”

It added that in that scenario, out-of-state housing could require another $7 million in corrections funding for the 2029 biennium. It’s “extremely difficult” to forecast DOC’s capacity needs, Stocker wrote, adding new laws play a part.

Stocker also reiterated a department position that DOC wants its inmates back in Montana “as soon as possible.”

“In fact, if the new units were complete, we could bring our out-of-state inmates back today,” Stocker said in an email. “That said, once the new units are finished, we will need to house inmates who will be displaced from Unit D and others as significant renovations occur. Out-of-state placements may continue to play a role in the management of the DOC’s adult male secure population.”