By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan
The Montana Department of Corrections has doubled the number of Montana inmates living at a CoreCivic correctional facility in Arizona this month, entering into a new contract with the company that will keep Montana prisoners at the facility at least through July 2026.
According to Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin, the state still needs more prison bed space because there are still nearly 200 people who are sitting in county jails awaiting transfer to a prison, and the Arizona beds are needed to free up space at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, which remains overcapacity as of Thursday.
The new contract and growing number of Montana prisoners at the Saguaro Correction Center in Eloy, Arizona, was first reported Wednesday by the Montana State News Bureau. A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections provided a copy of the new contract to the Daily Montanan on Thursday.
The department issued a news release in November when it announced the initial $7.9 million contract with CoreCivic to house 120 inmates at the Saguaro facility over two years and that 30 inmates had already been transported there.
It did not do the same for the most recent contract and prisoner transfer. The contract was signed on August 14 and effective back to August 1, according to the document. The state’s prison daily population dashboard showed 120 inmates at the facility on August 5, which grew to 149 on August 6, to 178 on August 12, then to 209 on August 15, and up to 239 as of August 19. As of Thursday, the dashboard showed 246 Montana inmates at the Saguaro facility.
“Managing Montana’s prison population has always been a challenge given limited bed space to handle fluctuations,” Gootkin said in a written statement Thursday. “The department continues to work with the HB 5 Select Committee on Corrections Facility Capacity and System Development and is looking forward to the committee’s recommendations to the 2025 Montana Legislature relative to long-term solutions. In the meantime, the department is exploring a variety of options and taking measures to help address Montana’s offender population needs.”
The new contract maintains the $90 per day per bed price that the original contract between the state and CoreCivic contained. The original contract ran from November 1, 2023 through October 31, 2025, while the new one runs August 1, 2024 through July 31, 2026. The original contract’s terms would put the cost for Montana for the 120 beds through the first nine months at about $2.9 million.
With the new contract, if the $90 rate does not change, the state would pay roughly $16 million for the 240 inmates. The contract says it cannot run beyond seven years, including renewals, but the rates can change if the state agrees to a renewal.
The committee discussing correctional capacity in Montana has heard throughout the interim that Montana still will need additional prison beds for the next several years even as the state prison is renovated, and adding more inmates to the Arizona facility has been discussed as being among the options.
Gootkin said the funding for the additional 120 beds was redistributed from the Department of Corrections’ existing budget after its contract ended with Missoula County’s Missoula Assessment and Sanction Center.
A request for the proposal for the secure beds contract opened on June 18 and closed on July 18, according to the document. The notice of intent to award was posted on July 25, awarding the contract to CoreCivic, which the notice says was the only company to submit a proposal. Out of 5,250 possible points awarded under the scoring system, the company scored 4,294, the document shows.
At an HB5 committee meeting in March, Representative John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, told the committee about his visit to Saguaro, saying one could “do surgery on the floors of the cell blocks” they were so clean and praising the design, staff and programs there.
“It was, I think, a very good decision by Montana to have entered into this contract,” he said. “And I think as we look forward, if we have to have an expansion of that contract in the next session, I think having that conversation with CoreCivic would be very good.”
The Montana State News Bureau reported Wednesday that the committee chair and vice chair were not aware of the new contract and beds, but Chairperson Senator John Esp, R-Big Timber, said he understood the move.
Gootkin said the department had been open about its need for extra beds during the interim after the funding for the initial beds became a political football during last year’s legislative session, with the funding being added, then stripped out, before it made it across the finish line.
“The department has been transparent with stakeholders and legislators about its population growth, the challenges that presents, and efforts to manage that,” Gootkin said. “The DOC participated in a public RFP process for the additional prison beds and is diligent about providing accurate information on thedaily population reportdashboard on its publicly available website.”
He said despite efforts by the department and other criminal justice departments across the state, there were still 494 jail holds as of Thursday morning, and 194 people in county jails awaiting transport to prison. He said the work continues to try to find solutions to the jail and prison overcrowding.
“The department met with several Montana sheriffs last week to talk about the challenges and discuss ways we can work together to address the issues for the short and long-term,” Gootkin said.
The HB5 committee is set to meet again next Tuesday. A June presentation showed the state estimates it will need another 419 to 539 more beds by 2029 depending on whether they continue sending prisoners out of state or keep them in Montana.
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