Montana Department of Corrections

The Montana Department of Corrections is scoping potential locations for a new women’s prison. Department officials pitched Butte commissioners on the idea.

Yellowstone County is looking for new ways to reduce the strain on their jail capacity. This week, the county’s court system implemented a new arraignment process they say will improve their efficiency.

The governor is asking for money to expand the prison this legislative session. Hundreds of Montanans are incarcerated out of state because there isn’t room at the state prison.

A Flathead County board has denied state officials’ request to start a pre-release center for Montana State Prison inmates. The state will now have to look for a new location.

A sewage backup into a Montana State Prison unit lasted for several days last month.

The Montana Department of Corrections expanded a program that sends Montana inmates to a private prison in Arizona. Initially, 120 inmates were to be sent out of state. Now, there’s more than double that number of inmates housed out-of-state.

Proponents of a bill moving through the Senate that would define what the terms male and female mean in Montana law say it would have no financial impact on the state. But, opponents of the bill at a hearing on Friday say the potential impact is too large to quantify.

The state Legislative Audit Division concluded that at least $50,000 of inmate welfare funds went to inappropriate uses

According to the department, corrections officers at the state prison in Deer Lodge will see a $2 an hour raise and changes to the prison’s employee grievance procedure as a result of union negotiations.

Montana Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin told lawmakers this week that almost 18 percent, or 59 correctional officer positions are unfilled at the state prison in Deer Lodge.