State of Montana Newsroom
Montana State Prison managing impacts of cold weather
Extreme temperatures resulted in a malfunction of one of two boilers at the Work Reentry Center (WRC) at Montana State Prison Friday night.
Maintenance responded immediately to address the issue and functionality was restored the same day although it took a few hours for temperatures to rise to normal levels. Temperatures did not dip below 60 degrees in the building that houses about 180 of the more than 1,500 inmates at MSP.
“Unfortunately, MSP is not immune from the weather conditions that are affecting all Montanans this week,” said Montana Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin. “The health and safety of inmates under our care and our people are of utmost importance to the department and we are thankful for the fast action and dedication of our maintenance team to remedy this situation.”
Inmates living at the WRC were provided with extra blankets for warmth. Regular services, like meals, were not affected.
The department has established its Incident Command System (ICS) for the next 48 hours to manage any situations that may arise. This group includes members from areas throughout the department.
In the interest of public safety and to allow prison staff members to focus on the safe operation of the facility, visitation at MSP was suspended for the weekend.