BILLINGS – A Montana corrections advisory panel chaired by Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger is recommending that more than 900 new prison beds and a new sex offender treatment center be built over the next 16 years.
The Corrections Advisory Council’s recommendations, which will be forwarded to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, are meant to accommodate projected increases in prison populations through 2025. The cost of the plan is estimated at $243 million.
More than 3,500 new beds had been recommended by a private consultant, but Bohlinger and others said the $562 million price tag was too high. They also said the population projections by the consultant — the South Carolina firm Carter Goble Lee — were inflated.