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| Montana Private Prison's Future at Stake |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/30/2002 |
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The mayor of Shelby says Gov. Judy Martz has assured him the state will do what it can to prevent a privately run prison in Shelby from closing because of state budget cuts. Mayor Larry Bonderud met for 90 minutes with the governor and administration officials Wednesday to discuss the future of the 500-bed Crossroads Correctional Center, owned by Corrections Corp. of America. State corrections officials said earlier this week that they planned to pull state inmates from the Shelby prison, as part of plans to cut spending within the agency. But Corrections Corp. has said reducing the number of state inmates at Crossroads substantially could force the prison to close. But Wednesday, Bonderud said state officials agreed to consider options to keep the Shelby prison's inmate population at a level that would make it profitable. 'They want to sit down with CCA and negotiate a bed number that keeps (the prison) viable,' Bonderud said. 'We're comforted that the governor and the Department of Corrections ... see it as a very important part of the corrections system, and that they'll do everything they can to keep the facility open.' Bonderud said corrections officials also agreed to hold public hearings in Shelby within a month to discuss the prison's future. Bonderud said Shelby-area officials had asked to meet with Martz and corrections officials after hearing the state might remove substantial numbers of inmates from the prison. 'Our idea was, 'How could we solve these problems together?' ' Bonderud said. 'We wanted to reach joint solutions, and I think we came up with a lot of good ideas.' The Shelby prison, built by CCA three years ago, now has about 415 Montana prisoners. The state pays CCA about $52 per inmate per day to house them. State officials had warned CCA that the count could be reduced to as low as 50, as the state shuffles inmate populations and releases some prisoners to address a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. The state plans on early release of 400 inmates by next month, transferring them from prison beds throughout the state system to community-based programs. Bonderud said options mentioned at Wednesday's meeting included transferring to Shelby state prison inmates currently waiting in county jails. That number ranges from 80 to 160 at any given time, Bonderud said. Another option mentioned, Bonderud said, was transferring to Shelby Montana inmates now being held in federal prisons and allowing the private prison to accept prisoners from outside Montana, which would require a change in state law. |
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