State prison’s world has six levels of custody
Prague 2007: Common Ground
The Montana State Prison is tucked five miles away from the center of Deer Lodge, Mont., a community of some 3,300 people. Guard towers rise high above fences lined with seemingly endless strands of razor wire surrounding the complex.
The prison houses more than 1,400 adult male inmates, convicted of crimes ranging from writing bad checks to robbery to murder. American Indians make up 18.4 percent of the inmate population.
The prison has six levels of custody that prison officials group inmates into. To determine what custody level each inmate belongs in, prison officials use factors such as their crime, their sentence length, special needs, and the amount of risk they pose to other inmates and to general security at the facility. The lower the custody level is, the more personal freedom allowed.
You can tell what custody level an inmate is in just by looking at him. Each custody level has different-colored clothing: blue for minimum and medium security inmates (each of which have two sublevels of custody), khaki for close custody inmates, and orange for those in maximum security.
Minimum indicates the lowest risk and the least restriction on movement. Inmates are able to work on the prison’s ranch, or in the industries program repairing vehicles, making furniture, or making license plates. The average wage for prisoners is 45 cents an hour.
Close custody inmates present higher risks, and their movement is more strictly monitored. The inmates are locked in their cells for much of the day. Compared to the minimum custody level, they can't work at the ranch and don't have much time for their activities outside the cell.
Maximum is the highest risk classification and the greatest restriction. The inmates are in their cells for the vast majority of the day. The maximum security outdoor exercise area is even sectioned off to keep inmates from interacting too closely with one another. The prisoners in high security areas greet visitors in a taunting fashion, howling and banging against their cell doors.
According to prison warden Mike Mahoney, the prison’s duty is two-fold: keeping the facility secure to protect society and the prisoners themselves, and making sure that the men at the prison leave the facility more capable of functioning in society.
To that end, the prison has some 40,000 acres of ranch land staffed by inmates, and an industries complex that makes—among other things—custom furniture and cowboy boots. It’s all part of the prison’s plan to get the inmates leaving the prison to get a job and get on their feet once they leave.
“Work kind of makes the world go round,” said Mike Ferriter, the Helena-based director of the Montana Department of Corrections.
In addition, the prison offers educational opportunities to the inmates.
“We try to make sure everyone who comes in here gets their GED (General Education Development, or the equivalent of a high school diploma),” said Linda Moodry, public information officer at the prison.
Getting the prisoners to enroll in work programs isn’t always easy, Moodry said. Many times, the men don’t see any benefit in working through their time. But usually once prisoners get involved in the industries program, they tend to progress well.
“The biggest challenge you have is getting started,” Moodry said.
But the majority of people that the Department of Corrections deals with aren’t in the prison, Ferriter said. Many are in pre-release centers, or on parole or probation. The pre-release centers give offenders the opportunity to work within communities, though they must return to the center each night.
It costs a lot of money to keep the inmates in the prison. According to the department’s Web site, the daily cost for one adult male is about $76, including costs for medical and dental care. Private prison facilities cost about $60 per inmate per day, and pre-release centers cost about $52. The lowest cost is for supervising those on probation or parole: about $4 per day. All costs are based on one adult male prisoner; the costs for the females are slightly higher.
Ferriter said American Indians generally do as well as white inmates when in pre-release centers, but once they leave they are twice as likely to end up back in the corrections system as whites, he said.
Ferriter said that of roughly 180 parole officers, there are only “a couple” of Indian descent, though he’s quick to acknowledge that the corrections department could improve in that area. The department has asked the state legislature for funds to hire 36 new parole and probation officers, and Ferriter said he hopes some of those new employees will be Native Americans.
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