METH PUSHING STATE'S PRISONS PAST CAPACITY, WARDEN SAYS

SHELBY (AP) - 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 here 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. "They're a great contractor," he added. "And we get a
tremendous bang for our buck."

As a stopgap, state officials said, they will need all of the 512 prison
beds at the Shelby prison.

On 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 McDonald 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.

"Last May 1, we began a relationship with the U.S. Marshal's Service and
began accepting federal prisoners," McDonald said.

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. "That release was a one-time event," he said. "Now there's no one
left we trust to let out early."

The Corrections Department will be running a deficit again by the time the
Legislature convenes next January, Slaughter predicted.

"We've been funded for a 5 to 6 percent increase," he said, "but if our
prison population continues to grow, I'd guess we'll be over-budget this year."