BOULDER — Starting a few months ago, the state of Montana began moving some of its female inmates to a facility outside Boulder – the latest step aimed at addressing the growing need for prison space across the state. On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte got a tour of the newly repurposed facility.
(Watch the video to get a closer look at the Riverside correctional facility.)
Prior to May, the Riverside facility held about 25 older male inmates with long-term medical needs. Since then, the Montana Department of Corrections has moved those men to the Montana State Prison campus in Deer Lodge and brought in 50 female inmates who had been at the Montana Women’s Prison in Billings.
“I think the most impressive thing to me was the reaction from the inmates themselves,” Gianforte told MTN after the tour. “We had a chance to talk to the women. They love this facility; it's a big upgrade.”
The Women’s Prison has been at capacity for a long time. Freeing up space there by moving inmates to Riverside allowed DOC to bring in women that county jails had been housing for the state.
DOC Director Brian Gootkin said inmates were happy to make the move to Boulder.
“This is the incentive: You want to come here, and so therefore you have to behave, you have to be programming,” he said.
The inmates Gianforte spoke with Tuesday included members of a Bible study group and participants in a gardening and horticulture training program.
“They want a little more programming,” he said. “Billings has been established for a longer period of time. We're still standing up those job training programs – a dog grooming program that we have in Billings that does not exist here yet. But as we increase capacity, we'll have the ability through scale to add those programs as well.”
State leaders are now planning to renovate another building at the Riverside campus, with the goal of adding another 50 to 60 beds. Gootkin said that would be enough to open space at the Women’s Prison for all the remaining female inmates counties have been holding.
During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers approved and Gianforte signed House Bill 833, which put $246 million toward renovating or building prison facilities, including one to handle the growing number of female inmates. At the time, lawmakers said converting Riverside to house women would help, but a longer-term solution was still needed.
MTN asked Gianforte if this campus would be part of the long-term solution.
“It's certainly going to play a role long-term,” he said. “We probably need about 400 beds total for female inmates in the state, so this is at least a quarter of the need.”
Gootkin said the medically needy inmates who had been at Riverside are currently being housed in temporary quarters at the Montana State Prison. He said the eventual goal is to build a separate unit for them.
Construction is already underway at MSP on new lower-security housing units, with a long-term goal of adding more than 100 new beds.
