Department of Corrections moves female inmates to repurposed facility in Boulder
A correctional officer removes an inmate's shackles upon arrival at Riverside. (Courtesy DOC)
The Montana Department of Corrections on Monday moved 50 inmates form the Montana Women's Prison in Billings to the former Riverside Special Needs Unit in Boulder, according to a press release from the department.
The move is intended to alleviate overcrowding in the state's correctional facilities.
Following Monday's move, the Women's Prison in Billings has a population of 200, according to the state's secure facility dashboard, while DOC officials say another 62 female inmates are awaiting placement from county jails. The DOC stated that 47 of those inmates in county jails have been waiting for transfer to the prison for more than 30 days, but expects to move them to the Billings facility by the end of the month.
The Riverside Facility in Boulder was most recently used as a unit of the Montana State Prison for male inmates with serious, long-term medical needs. The facility housed 25 inmates, who were transferred to the state prison earlier this month, according to DOC.
The facility underwent minor renovations to accommodate the larger population of female inmates.
Representatives from DOC did not immediately respond to calls or emails asking about the extent of the renovations or changes to staffing levels at the facility.
Overcrowding has been a growing issue among Montana's correctional facilities, and the state has resorted to sending hundreds of inmates to privately run prisons in other states in order to make do.
Under contracts with CoreCivic, a private prison operator, Montana currently has 239 inmates in the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Mississippi, and 364 in the Saguaro Correctional Facility in Arizona.
Despite the out-of-state transfers, several Montana facilities remain over capacity. A CoreCivic run facility in Shelby, has 768 inmates but an operational capacity of 753. A federal jury recently found CoreCivic liable for failing to protect an inmate in that facility from a beating, and awarded the victim nearly $28 million.
Among state-run facilities, the Montana State Prison is 58 inmates over capacity, with a current population of 1,594.
Montana's community correctional facilities include another 1,616 individuals in treatment centers, prerelease centers, and assessment and sanction centers.
During the 2025 Legislative Session, lawmakers appropriated $436 million to address capacity issues throughout the state.
House Bill 833, sponsored by Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, proposes spending roughly $250 million to construct a new women's prison or renovate an existing facility. That bill is awaiting action from Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican.
Fitzpatrick also included DOC funding in the state's long-range building appropriations bill, House Bill 5, including $171 million for expansions at the Montana State Prison.
On April 29, Gianforte, Fitzpatrick, and DOC Director Brian Gootkin held a groundbreaking ceremony for a $156 million infrastructure project to build more housing units at the state prison, a project that was funded during the 2023 Legislative Session.
'We are extremely thankful for the support of Governor Gianforte and the members of the Montana Legislature to provide us with a generational investment to modernize and expand our correctional infrastructure,' Gootkin said in a press release. 'Not only will we have the capacity we need to accommodate our inmate population, but we will be able to provide a safer, healthier work environment for our employees.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump Appoints 22-Year-Old Ex-Gardener and Grocery Store Assistant to Lead U.S. Terror Prevention
The inexperienced 22-year-old reportedly tasked by Donald Trump with tackling U.S. extremism was working as a neighborhood gardener just five years ago and in a grocery store as recently as August 2023, the Daily Beast can reveal. Thomas Fugate, who graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio just 12 months ago, is currently heading up the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the DHS, as first reported by ProPublica Tuesday. The center, also known as CP3, plays a vital role supporting nationwide efforts to combat terrorism and hate-fueled violence. But according to the youngster's LinkedIn page, Fugate has almost no experience in this field—and in 2020 was working as a self-employed 'Landscape Business Owner.' There isn't much else on his resumé to suggest Fugate has the requisite skills to weed out terrorists. Prior to his work as a gardener—while studying for a degree in politics and law—Fugate worked at an H-E-B supermarket in Austin, Texas, as a 'Cross Functional Team Member.' According to his LinkedIn, he would 'perform various activities around every department of the store, fulfilling key duties contributing to store operations.' Since leaving college, Fugate has had a meteoric rise in the political world, having served as an 'advance team member' on President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, according to his LinkedIn page. An avowed Republican, he also interned at the Heritage Foundation, the think tank behind Project 2025, and for Texas Representatives Terry Wilson and Steve Allison. Fugate was reportedly hired as a 'special assistant' in an immigration office at the DHS in February, according to ProPublica. He then took over CP3 after its previous director quit. Fugate did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. 'Tom Fugate has performed well in his current role as a Confidential Assistant in our Immigration & Border Security suboffice,' a senior DHS official told The Daily Beast. 'Due to his success, he has been temporarily given additional leadership responsibilities in the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships office (CP3). This is a credit to his work ethic and success on the job.' Fugate set up a political Instagram account last year, where his profile contains the motto, 'Men used to do great things. I believe they still can.' He has posted a number of photos from the campaign trail and his time in Washington, D.C. He also posted a video that showed him with a host of lesser lights in the Republican party, including the disgraced former congressman Madison Cawthorn, Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell, and MAGA personality Riley Gaines. He is also pictured with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. An older account in the name of Trey Fugate on X suggests that he was a fan of LEGO and Star Wars. He used the social media account to call on Texas politicians 'to protect the international affairs budget!' and 'Help the global poor, save lives.' That was just two years before he launched his new MAGA personality with the thomas4texas Instagram account, saying: 'Legend has it that Thomas Fugate didn't start the fire 🔥, but that is always been burning since the world's been turning 🤔. Welcome all to my new account for public service, community involvement, and politics 🇺🇸. Recently things have got to the point where I felt like my main account has become too focused on politics, so I wanted to switch things up!' The plethora of selfies and portraits plastered across his social media accounts suggest that the wryly arched eyebrow Fugate chose for his LinkedIn profile—a photograph taken in front of the seal of the Department of Homeland Security—was very much a knowing choice from a young man who seems to think he is destined for the top.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
US Supreme Court to review death row inmate's intellectual disability ruling
By John Kruzel WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal by Alabama officials of a judicial decision that a man convicted of a 1997 murder is intellectually disabled - a finding that spared him from the death penalty - as they press ahead with the Republican-governed state's bid to execute him. A lower court ruled that Joseph Clifton Smith is intellectually disabled based on its analysis of his IQ test scores and expert testimony. Under a 2002 Supreme Court precedent, executing an intellectually disabled person violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment bar on cruel and unusual punishment. The justices are due to hear the case in their next term, which starts in October. Smith, now 54, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of a man named Durk Van Dam in Alabama's Mobile County. Smith fatally beat the man with a hammer and saw in order to steal his boots, some tools and $140, according to evidence in the case. The victim's body was found in his mud-bound Ford Ranger truck in an isolated, wooded area. The Supreme Court's 2002 precedent in a case called Atkins v. Virginia barred executing intellectually disabled people. President Donald Trump's administration backed Alabama's appeal in the case. At issue in Smith's case is whether and how courts may consider the cumulative effect of multiple intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in assessing a death row inmate's intellectual disability. Like many states, conservative-leaning Alabama considers evidence of IQ test scores of 70 or below as part of the standard for determining intellectual disability. Supreme Court rulings in 2014 and 2017 allowed courts to consider IQ score ranges that are close to 70 along with other evidence of intellectual disability, such as testimony of "adaptive deficits." Smith had five IQ test scores, the lowest of which was 72. A federal judge noted that Smith's score could be as low as 69, given the standard of error of plus or minus three points. The judge then found that Smith had significant deficits from an early age in social and interpersonal skills, independent living and academics. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge's conclusions in 2023, setting aside Smith's death sentence. This prompted Alabama officials to file their first of two appeals to the Supreme Court in the case. In November, the justices threw out the 11th Circuit's decision, saying that the lower court's evaluation of Smith's IQ scores can be read two ways, and requires clarification. Ten days later, the 11th Circuit issued an opinion clarifying that its evaluation was based on "a holistic approach to multiple IQ scores" that also considered additional relevant evidence, including expert testimony. This prompted a second appeal by Alabama officials to the Supreme Court. Alabama in its filing to the Supreme Court argued that the lower courts in the case applied the wrong legal standard in establishing Smith's intellectual disability and urged the justices to take up the appeal to provide clarity on the issue. Friday's action by the court was unexpected. The court had planned to release it on Monday along with its other regularly scheduled orders, but a software glitch on Friday prematurely sent email notifications concerning the court's decision in the case. "As a result, the court is issuing that order list now," said court spokesperson Patricia McCabe. It is not the first time the court has inadvertently disclosed action in sensitive cases. Last year, an apparent draft of a ruling in a case involving emergency abortion access in Idaho was briefly uploaded to the court's website before being taken down. That disclosure represented an embarrassment for the top U.S. judicial body, coming two years after the draft of a blockbuster ruling rolling back abortion rights was leaked.
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
FBI Director Kash Patel announces potential ‘great breakthrough' in COVID origins probe
FBI Director Kash Patel claimed Friday that there was a recent 'breakthrough' in the COVID-19 origins probe after recovering the devices, including phones, that Dr. Anthony Fauci used in the earliest days of the pandemic. Fauci, one of the primary medical leaders during the deadly pandemic, is being investigated as part of the larger inquiry into how COVID started and America's response. Patel told podcaster Joe Rogan that the FBI originally couldn't locate any of the devices Fauci used during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 — but they apparently turned up just days ago. 4 FBI Director Kash Patel announced a 'breakthrough' in the government's COVID-19 origins probe on an episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' that aired Friday. The Joe Rogan Experience Advertisement 'They had always been looking for phones and devices he used while he was back in Trump one [the first Trump administration] during COVID, and nobody had found it until two days ago,' Patel said during an episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience.' However, Patel cautioned that the content on the devices might be inconsequential — or even long gone. 'Everybody listening to us shouldn't jump to the conclusion [that] everything's in there. Maybe it's deleted, maybe it's not, but at least we found it, and at least now we can tell people that we have been looking because it is of public importance.' Advertisement Fauci has come under heavy fire since the pandemic for his flip-flopping policies on public safety, mainly by Republican stalwarts, including President Trump. The worst wave of the pandemic, stretching from March 2020 through the summer, came during the final months of Trump's first term in office. 4 Dr. Anthony Fauci was pardoned by former President Biden during the final hours of his presidency. Getty Images 4 Patel made the revelation on Joe Rogan's podcast Friday. The Joe Rogan Experience Advertisement Just hours before Trump was inaugurated in January, former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci to protect him from being prosecuted as Trump and Republicans claimed the White House, House and Senate. The president has repeatedly condemned Biden's move, calling the pardon 'VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT' on TruthSocial in March. Fauci's pardon is still in effect. Advertisement 4 The FBI and CIA concluded that COVID likely originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China. EPA The FBI and the CIA both asserted that COVID likely came from a lab leak in Wuhan, China, which had been conducting different experiments on coronaviruses in the years preceding the disastrous pandemic. The lab leak theory was previously denounced as a conspiracy theory during the height of the pandemic. Fauci has been accused of suppressing information indicating the veracity of the lab leak, which he denied before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic last year.
