After assessing 10 locations, the Montana Department of Corrections views three places – Boulder, Deer Lodge, and Miles City – as its preferred options for its new women’s prison.
Speaking to a legislative budgeting committee March 18, DOC Director Eric Strauss explained that, of the three, Deer Lodge may be the weakest choice, given that an ongoing expansion there would likely complicate further construction.
“Now we’re in the process of likely paring that down to two,” said Strauss, adding that the DOC is “looking at specifically the opportunities of the land we own in Boulder and in Miles City, a little bit deeper dive to understand what potential exists at both of those locations.”
The DOC expects to complete its location assessments by the end of March and announce its new women’s prison site soon afterward. Carolynn Stocker, DOC Communications Director, told The Monitor that the number of beds to be built and the size and cost of the new facility “will be largely dependent on which site is selected.”
The department, which has not eliminated the other 7 towns it has reviewed, hopes to leverage its existing infrastructure, such as the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, Boulder’s Riverside facility and Pine Hills Correctional in Miles City.
With a goal of at least 400 beds for women prisoners statewide, the DOC already has 250 beds at its women’s prison Billings and another 50 at Riverside, where it has begun work on a 50-bed expansion. Its easiest path to 400 beds may be to further expand Riverside.
“That would be a relatively simple expansion at that Boulder facility, to add an additional 50 [beds] to get to 150,” Strauss told legislators.
Once the department selects its location, its next step would be to engage the community to understand local concerns before moving forward on potential designs, Strauss added.
Boulder residents expressed considerable concern about a potential new women’s prison, and how it might alter the community, at a public meeting in October.
