The Montana Department of Corrections plans to relocate approximately 50 women currently housed at Riverside prison in Boulder to Pine Hills Correctional Facility in Miles City, the agency announced Thursday. The move would affect a notable slice of the state's roughly 370 incarcerated women and represents a significant reshuffling of where the DOC houses its female population.
Agency spokesperson Carolynn Stocker said the department intends to explore options for the use of the 144-bed Riverside facility once the women are transferred. The Boulder prison sits roughly 30 miles northwest of Helena, and its future use — whether for a different population, a different purpose, or closure — has not been determined.
The relocation to Pine Hills in Miles City would move those women more than 300 miles from the Helena area, raising concerns that advocates for incarcerated people have long flagged about distance from family, legal counsel, and community support systems. Those connections are widely considered critical to successful reentry after release.
The DOC did not announce a timeline for the transfer in Thursday's press release. Residents of Jefferson County, where Boulder is located, may also be watching closely — Riverside has been an employer in that small community, and any change in the facility's mission would have local economic implications.