Pubdate: Thu, 04 Aug 2005
Source: Helena Independent Record (MT)
Copyright: 2005 Helena Independent Record
Contact:  http://helenair.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1187
Author: Jennifer McKee
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

PRISONS BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

Officials Ponder Out-Of-State Transfers

HELENA -- State Corrections officials are considering shipping some Montana 
inmates to out-of-state prisons this fall due to a methamphetamine-fueled 
spike in felons sentenced to hard time.

In a letter to Gov. Brian Schweitzer last week, Corrections Director Bill 
Slaughter said the state's prisons are overcrowding and backing up into 
county jails.

"Our adult offender population is exceeding the emergency bed capacity of 
our" state prisons, the July 26 letter reads.

The state is housing 257 inmates in county jails because there is no room 
either at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge or at the state's only 
private prison, Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. Counties, 
meanwhile, are sitting on roughly 3,750 outstanding felony warrants they 
cannot serve because they have no place to house the felons if they catch them.

"We're certainly bursting at the seams," said Joe Williams, administrator 
of Corrections' Centralized Services Division.

Williams said if the state is still holding 200 or more inmates in county 
jails by mid-September, the agency would start moving inmates to 
out-of-state prisons.

Williams said the state is facing two problems.

First, the Corrections Department is in the middle of launching expansions 
approved by the 2005 Legislature. Those include adding 200 more slots in 
pre-release centers, a move that will require building more centers or 
adding on to existing ones. Department officials also are turning an old 
wing of the state prison into a "revocation center," where felons out on 
probation and parole can be sent temporarily if they violate the terms of 
their release.

Additionally, agency officials are in the early stages of arranging for a 
new, lock-down meth treatment center with room for up to 60 people and a 
256-bed prison for inmates with special needs, like mental illness or 
elderly inmates. Private, non-profit companies, like the kind that 
currently run the state's pre-release centers, will likely build those 
institutions. Finally, the department is trying to hire more probation and 
parole officers and correctional officers.

Second, Williams said, while those expansions may offer a short-term fix to 
overcrowding in the state prison, the long-term conundrum of how to deal 
with meth in Montana will continue. Without a statewide meth strategy, the 
state's penal system will continue to fill up with meth-related felons as 
fast as the state can build new prison cells.

"We've filled 1,500 new cells since 1998 and I'm looking to build more," 
Williams said. "You can't build your way out of this. We need to start 
hacking away at the root causes of dependency."

He said he's optimistic the new lock-down meth treatment center will be 
successful and pave the way for more, similar institutions where addicted 
felons learn to be drug and crime-free when they're released.

Ultimately, however, Montana's response to meth will take more than just 
the criminal justice system. Williams said exactly how the meth problem 
should be tackled is difficult to know. Maybe the state needs more meth 
treatment centers outside the criminal justice system and better ways for 
addicts and their families to pay for treatment. Maybe the state needs to 
do more to expand access to college or technical training, helping people 
prepare for the state's changing economy.

"We need to have a statewide discussion," he said. "When (meth addicts) get 
to the corrections system, that's it. The options get really limited."

David Ewer, the governor's budget director, said Schweitzer is committed 
first to keeping Montanans safe and will spend the money necessary to keep 
violent felons off the streets. But he said he agrees with Williams that 
meth addiction is so pervasive and complicated, it will take more than 
police, judges and jails to solve.

But how government responds to meth will take careful balance.

"This administration has been about strengthening families from day one," 
Ewer said. "Putting money into child care, health care, access to 
education. Anything we can do that strengthens the family should help 
people make positive choices in their lives. We're open to innovative 
solutions."

Montana last sent inmates to out-of-state prisons in the mid-1990s due to 
similar overcrowding problems. Republican Gov. Marc Racicot sent some 
inmates first to a prison in Texas, where one Montanan briefly escaped and 
others were wounded by bullets when guards broke up a protest. In May 1997, 
a Montana inmate died in Texas after other prisoners beat him with a 
barbell weight in the prison exercise yard.

Montana prisoners were then sent to other prisons in Tennessee and Arizona. 
Two Montanans escaped from the Tennessee pen. 
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MAP posted-by: Beth