HELENA — At a quick and quiet committee hearing in February, a Bozeman mother of two took the podium, telling the committee about her husband, now held in a prison 1,200 miles away.

“We were only able to visit him once in Deer Lodge before it felt like everything was ripped from us when he was transferred to Arizona,” said Ellen Binkley, supporting a bill that would require the Department of Corrections to consider inmates’ families when considering transfers to out-of-state prisons.

Her testimony highlighted just one of the symptoms of a slow-rolling crisis in the state: Montana’s prisons are overflowing and have been for years, leaving state legislators and the Department of Corrections looking across state lines for help while also trying to hammer out solutions at home.

About 600 inmates are being held in private, out-of-state prisons – in Arizona like Binkley’s husband, and, most recently, Mississippi. But still, Montana’s correctional facilities are crowded. So, while lawmakers debate bills like the one addressing out-of-state inmates’ families, they are also considering proposals to increase capacity at in-state facilities, including expanding Montana’s State Prison and funding a new women’s prison.

“The problem you have is that we don't have any control over who comes into the system,” said Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda. ”Those are determinations that are made in courtroom.”

In 2023, Binkley’s husband was sentenced to 50 years in prison, a sentence that started at the state prison in Deer Lodge. He was then transferred and is now being held at the privately owned CoreCivic facility in Eloy, Arizona.

Binkley, who works as a nurse, said a long weekend trip to Arizona could cost her more than $3,000.

“ It's not doable for Montana families, let alone single-income families,” Binkley said. “And this doesn't include costs like missed school and work hours.”

The bill, one of the many at the Legislature that deal with Montana’s corrections system, passed through the House and is scheduled for debate this week in the Senate.

Out-of-State Deals

Lawmakers are deliberating a $150 million expansion to the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, adding 512 beds to the all-male prison.

Another $250-million effort for a new women’s prison passed committee on March 27, which Fitzpatrick, the bill’s sponsor, said was in part because the out-of-state deals are for male inmates only.

“We're moving on a good trajectory with males, but at the present time, female population is very problematic,” Fitzpatrick said.

The out-of-state contracts, signed with private prison company CoreCivic, are included in the Department of Corrections’ proposed budget for next two years. Fitzpatrick said by that time, he thinks three of the five new Deer Lodge wings will be completed and anticipates continued partnership with CoreCivic, albeit on a smaller scale.

“ We simply have to respond to what we get … It doesn't mean that they're gonna slow down in the number of inmates coming in,” Fitzpatrick said. “We'd like to bring them back, but you're just gonna have to see what happens in the courtroom.”

Opponents to the expansions called for more “upstream solutions.” Nicole Gomez with human rights advocacy group Catalyst Montana said even just on a fiscal level, the bill has issues.

“Incarceration begets more incarceration, requiring a never-ending cycle of more funding that makes no economic sense,” Gomez said.

She said the state has an overreliance on incarceration and should instead look toward supporting housing insecurity, substance abuse, and mental health needs.

The Role of Parole

One option to free up prison beds lies in the Board of Pardons and Parole, which may also see some legislative changes. And while it isn’t anticipated to free up much space, it’s still much-needed assistance, according to members of the board.

One such change — Rep. Amy Regier’s House Bill 186 — would allot a sixth member to the board. Currently, each of their four hearing days per week requires three members present — a practice nearly every member agrees is not efficient.

“ I am not afraid to work,” said Jimmy Patelis, a board member since 2021. “But this has gotten to a point where it's been kind of overwhelming.”

Parole board Chairman Steven Hurd said each case usually takes an hour to 90 minutes of prep, and the hearing itself can take the same, if not longer. It’s gotten to the point that board members are too busy to take any time off.

“ I can tell you how many of us are in excess leave and we get that time burned off rather than getting the opportunity to use the time that we have earned as public servants,” Hurd said.

The proposal is progressing through the Senate alongside a bill from Rep. Greg Overstreet, R-Stevensville, that would eliminate the need for a licensed attorney on all “quasi-judicial” state boards, including the Board of Pardons and Parole.

Lawmakers hope all these proposals – from helping keep families close to making the parole process more efficient – while seemingly offering small changes, will help chip away at making a better corrections system in Montana.

“What happens with state government basically is that you work from one crisis to another,” Fitzpatrick said. “The problem with things like corrections … is that we let things deteriorate and then we have a crisis on our hands. And frankly, we're finally addressing it between last session and this session.”

Clayton Murphy is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. Murphy can be reached at [email protected].