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| Meth pushing Montana's prisons past capacity, warden says |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/26/2004 |
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Montana's prisons are overcrowded again, and the explosion of methamphetamine convictions is the reason, State Prison Warden Mike Mahoney told the Corrections Advisory Council last Wednesday. "The inn is full, and it's driven by methamphetamines," Mahoney said. As of July 1, the state will take over the 88 beds at the privately owned and operated Crossroads Correctional Center near Shelby that now are occupied by federal prisoners, Corrections Director Bill Slaughter said. A CCC contract with the state gives Montana preference for housing its own inmates before federal inmates. Legislators next year will face a choice: limit admissions to the prison system or build new cells. "The quickest way would be to have CCA (Nashville-based Correctional Corp. of America) build it," Slaughter told council members meeting at the private prison. As a stopgap, state officials said, they will need all of the 512 prison beds at the Shelby prison. Last Wednesday, Crossroads had 492 prisoners. The state is paying for 413 of them, and the federal government is paying for 79 in a pod that holds 88 inmates. Slaughter said the state pays CCC $45 a day per inmate. Slaughter said he would notify Crossroads Warden Jim MacDonald on Thursday that the state is taking the federal cells back. He noted that he is required to give five months' notice of such intentions. Two years ago, when the state released some inmates early to deal with a budget deficit, Crossroads was losing money for lack of prisoners and had to cut back on staff. The explosive growth in drug convictions, especially methamphetamines, is driving up the prison population, Slaughter said. The state prison at Deer Lodge has 1,350 beds, and Slaughter said the most recent count showed 12 vacancies. The state's prison population has doubled in a decade, said Joe Williams, central services director for the Department of Corrections. Although 59 percent of the male inmates are locked away for a violent crime, the reverse is true for women. "Eighty-four percent of the women are nonviolent offenders," Williams said. "That takes up fairly expensive prison space for nonviolent drug offenders, primarily meth." The number of female prisoners has increased from 108 in 1995 to 357 last year, he said. Facing a $10 million budget deficit two years ago, corrections officials granted early releases to 567 male prisoners. That won't happen again, said Williams. The Corrections Department will be running a deficit again by the time the Legislature convenes next January, Slaughter predicted. |
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