Montana Will Now Send as Many as 600 State Prisoners to Arizona and Mississippi

By Darrell Ehrlick for the Daily Montanan

For each of the past two years, Montana’s Department of Corrections has sent 120 prisoners to a privately run prison in Arizona, operated by CoreCivic. Officials with the department told the Daily Montanan just last week that they had sent another 120 inmates there, raising the total to 364.

On Thursday, CoreCivic announced another deal with the State of Montana, this time to house an additional 240 inmates at its Tutwiler, Mississippi facility, bringing the total number of Montana inmates to 600 that are under the private management of CoreCivic, excluding the number of prisoners at the privately run Shelby, Montana facility.

Montana DOC officials say transferring the prisoners is a necessary step to manage prison populations as well as make necessary upgrades and additions to the main state-run facility in Deer Lodge. However, some lawmakers question the practice, and civil rights groups have raised concerns about the outsourcing from a public entity to a private one with little accountability.

The Shelby Crossroads facility, operated by CoreCivic in northern Montana, houses 664 inmates, bringing the total number of Montana-based prisoners managed by the private company by the end of the first quarter in 2025 to more than 1,200.

The total daily adult prison population of Montana as of Wednesday, according to the state’s corrections website is 2,953.

Montana Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin said that officials are working with the Legislature and the governor’s office “to develop a long-term solution to the critical capacity challenges within Montana’s prison system.” He told the Daily Montanan that they’ll continue to use the out-of-state services until additional infrastructure is built in Montana.

Montana DOC officials also say that the cost is advantageous. According to information provided to the Daily Montanan, the daily cost to the state for housing inmates is $112.12 per day per prisoner, based on 2023 rates. The contract rate for CoreCivic in the Arizona facility is $90 per day per prisoner.

Officials said they determine which prisoners go out of state versus stay at in-state or state-run facilities considering a number of factors, such as custody level, proximity to parole eligibility, active participation in treatment or other programming, medical needs, mental health and safety concerns.

“To minimize the need for movement to and from Arizona the DOC sends inmates who are not close to their parole eligibility dates,” Gootkin said.

Transportation costs to and from the facilities are factored in the fees paid to CoreCivic, so there’s no additional charges beyond what was negotiated. Of the 223 inmates at the Saguaro facility in Arizona that were taken there in 2023 and 2024, the department said, that only four total came back for reasons the department did not specify.

Alex Rate, the legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, said that the people of Montana should be concerned about all of the residents that are being sent out of state, regardless of cost.

“We’ve been outsourcing our prisoners to a private, out-of-state company with no accountability to the taxpayers,” he said.

He said that families and prisoners are worried about access to the legal libraries, Montana attorneys and courts, and their families when they’re hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Officials at the Department of Corrections said that prisoners have access to parole hearings remotely.

“Family and friends have a variety of communication opportunities available to them including messaging, phone calls, video visitation, and in-person visitation at the out-of-state facility,” Gootkin said.

The Saguaro facility is in Eloy, Arizona, located approximately 1,170 miles from Deer Lodge, while the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility is located in Tutwiler, Mississippi, approximately 1,860 miles from Deer Lodge.