DEER LODGE — Correctional officers in Montana’s state prisons got a raise Wednesday with the stroke of the governor’s pen and their counterparts at a privately run prison may see the same bump.
Gov. Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 3 at the Montana State Prison outside Deer Lodge. The ceremonial signing included a roundtable discussion with the prison’s union, associate wardens and the recently assembled recruitment and retention team.
Gianforte told those gathered at the prison that this was the first component in a record investment. The bill grants correctional officers a $2-per-hour raise, building on another $2 raise negotiated since the last session. Also moving through the Legislature is House Bill 13, the state pay plan, which would deliver another $3 — or 8%, whichever is greater — raise over the next two years. Employees at the women’s prison in Billings and Pine Hills youth prison in Miles City got a $3 per hour raise with HB 3’s passage.
If all proposals pass, correctional officer wages will have jumped from under $17 per hour to over $23 by the turn of the new fiscal year in July.
The state prison has been plagued by staffing shortages for several years now — the last vacancy figure among prison staff offered to lawmakers was 40%. That kind of gap has required prison officials to limit space used within the prison and indefinitely end in-person visitation so the remaining staff can maintain their posts over the prison population.
Gianforte thanked representatives from the Montana Federation of Public Employees at the bill signing for their efforts in negotiating what he called a fair deal for both parties.
“I appreciate everyone’s participation,” Gianforte said. “We worked together to find a solution to make sure that correctional officers are paid properly here in Deer Lodge. It’s important work that you’re doing.”
Roughly 15 hours earlier, a legislative budget committee approved $5.6 million in additional funding for the Montana Department of Corrections’ contract with CoreCivic, a for-profit prison company that operates the Crossroads Correctional Center near Shelby. Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, sponsored the amendment to the state budget and said it would allow CoreCivic to raise their own rates to meet prevailing wage requirements, following the state’s pay raise for its own correctional officers.
“This is a state contract so we’ll have to adjust those salaries at CoreCivic and this is the vehicle to do it,” Fitzpatrick said.
Democrats on the committee expressed some concern. CoreCivic is required to pay the prevailing wage whether Montana gives them additional money or not, but most voted for the bump for CoreCivic’s contract.
“Whether (prison) workers are in private or public facilities, they deserve a raise,” Rep. Mary Caferro, the Democratic vice chair of the committee, said before voting Tuesday.
The two-year contract between CoreCivic and the state of Montana is due for a renewal at the end of June. For 753 beds at the Shelby prison, Montana pays a fixed monthly rate of $1,763,588.
While the state prison has made efforts to slow the loss of staff in Deer Lodge, CoreCivic has faced its own hardships in similarly rural Shelby. Its contract with the state requires CoreCivic maintain certain staffing levels while supervising state inmates. According to Department of Corrections records turned over to a budget subcommittee in January, the state fined CoreCivic more than $630,000 for violations related to staffing vacancies in every month between November 2021 and December 2022.
Asked Wednesday why the state would deepen its contractual relationship with CoreCivic given the contract violations, Montana Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin said the two parties are already contractually connected.
“We have a contract, that’s the main reason,” Gootkin said. “They’re good partners and we work closely with them on a daily basis.”
CoreCivic has five facilities in Arizona. Gootkin said Wednesday he wasn’t sure to which facility Montana inmates would be sent if the transfer funding is ultimately approved.
Montana State Prison
Montana State Prison Warden Jim Salmonsen called the raises “unprecedented” in his 34 years at the penitentiary. On the retention front, Salmonsen said the prison hasn’t lost any employees in six weeks, a “remarkable” feat given recent trends.
Salmonsen and others also applauded the proposed investments in the prison’s infrastructure. Appropriations committees are considering $200 million in infrastructure projects at the prison, including $150 million to replace the low-security housing buildings.
“It’s boosted morale inside the compound dramatically,” he told Gianforte Wednesday. “There’s a lot of exciting things happening right now.”
Still, several prison officials told Gianforte on Wednesday employee housing continues to be a hurdle in recruiting and retention. Home availability is slim in Deer Lodge, and the prison has employees driving on a daily basis from Missoula and Helena, well beyond the historic worker pools of Butte and Anaconda.
“The pay raises are great, but it doesn’t match what the housing is,” Associate Warden DJ Godfrey told the governor.
Gianforte told them legislation is working through the process to fund $200 million in low-interest loans so towns like Deer Lodge to put in water and sewer infrastructure for workforce housing.
“We hope to get that over the finish line as well,” Gianforte said.
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{span}Capitol bureau reporter Seaborn Larson covers justice-related areas of state government and organizations that wield power. His past work includes local crime and courts reporting at the Missoulian and Great Falls Tribune, and daily news reporting at the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell.{/span}
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