Two Rivers Detention Facility

Last updated
Rocky Mountain Regional Detention Facility
Two Rivers Detention Facility
Location1015 N. Lessard Avenue, Hardin, Montana
StatusOperational
Security classMinimum
Capacity464
OpenedApril 2019
Managed by Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Rocky Mountain Regional Detention Facility, formerly known as the Two Rivers Regional Detention Facility, is a privately owned, government-operated detention facility located in Hardin, Montana, which was first proposed as economic development in 2004, and was completed in the summer of 2007. It first held prisoners in 2014, substantially under capacity, until it was closed in 2016. Two Rivers Authority concluded a lease arrangement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in December 2018; the BIA took possession and began operations in April 2019.

Contents

Construction

The 464-bed minimum security detention facility was completed in September 2007, built with $27.4 million in high interest revenue bonds issued by the city's new industrial development corporation, the Two Rivers Port Authority (TRA) [1] and sold by bond brokers Municipal Capital Markets and Herbert J. Sims. It fostered the hopes of creating 100-plus jobs and stimulating the economy of the small town of 3,400.

The facility was promoted by a consortium of mostly Texan bond brokers, builders (Hale-Mills construction), architects (James Parkey/Corplan) and operators (Civigenics/Community Education Centers), despite an initial economic feasibility analysis that concluded it would not be a viable project, and despite substantial legislative obstacles. [2]

Struggle to find clients

Once complete, because of various legal and political issues, Two Rivers Authority and the original operator were unable to obtain any contracts to house inmates. Although five interest payments had been made from the bond issue's reserve fund, the bonds were declared in technical default in May 2008. [3]

In the fall of 2008, unsuccessful at attracting contracts from various counties, states, tribes and federal agencies, it was proposed to the State of Montana to house a sexual offender program. Hardin's incomplete bid was twice rejected.

In January 2009, the two-year contract was not renewed and the operator, Civigenics/Community Education Centers, withdrew its last two employees that it had imported from Texas.[ citation needed ]

In March 2009, the Hardin City Council voted 5-0 to back a proposal to bring detainees from the United States detention camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Hardin, although state congressional leaders had opposed the plan. [4]

On September 3–4, 2009, the economic development director, the attorney and the vice president of Hardin's TRA negotiated a draft contract with a Southern Californian confidence man, "Michael Hilton." Hilton was an ex-convict Serbian immigrant with more than a dozen aliases and criminal convictions, who lost many fraud, rescission and unlawful detainer cases with over $1 million in adverse judgments against him. [5]

Despite the furor, elected and appointed officials from Hardin continued to vouch for the viability of the contract and for Hilton's alleged reformation. [6]

The bondholding investors and trustee, whose agreement was necessary for the contract to be accepted, hesitated to comply.

By January 2010, the TRA had hired its fifth director who was laboring to find inmates for the empty jail. There remained about $814,000 remaining in a "reserve fund" managed by the trustee of the bonds sold to build the facility. That money was earmarked to pay insurance, heat, electricity and the bare minimum of services the building requires to be operational. [7]

"Kim Hammond, mayor of Hardin, has warned cities...to tread lightly when considering the proposals brought forth by private companies like Corplan." [8]

In October 2011, Two Rivers Authority responded to a Request for Information by the Montana Department of Corrections. In late January 2012, the Montana Department of Corrections issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking 120 beds for special-needs inmates. The RFP was cancelled and DOC Director Mike Ferriter indicated that it might not be reissued at all. [9]

Under Emerald

In April 2014, Emerald Correctional Management, LLC, of Louisiana renewed efforts to obtain contracts to get it operational, holding a job fair to recruit potential employees. [10] [11] In May 2014, Two Rivers Authority and Emerald Correctional Management, LLC, completed contracts relating to the startup and operational management of the Facility.

After being vacant for over seven years after construction was completed, the Facility became operational in July 2014 and in August 2014 accepted the first inmate. [12] By early October, with Emerald Corrections operating the facility, the inmate population had increased to almost 60. [13] By February 2016, although at one point the inmate population had swelled to 250 with Native Americans and North Dakota county jail prisoners, it was once again empty. By then, its bond indebtedness, thanks to non-payment on debt and interest accrued, had increased to over $40 million. [14] Emerald ceased all business in 2017.

Most recent efforts to utilize facility

Montana U.S. Senator Steve Daines has pressed the Bureau of Indian Affairs to contract with the facility, hoping to hold prisoners by January 2018. [15] Two Rivers Authority concluded a lease arrangement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in December 2018; the BIA took possession and began operations in April 2019.

Related Research Articles

Hardin, Montana City in Montana, United States

Hardin is a city in and the county seat of Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,505 at the 2010 census.

A private prison, or for-profit prison, is a place where people are imprisoned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate, either for each prisoner in the facility, or for each place available, whether occupied or not. Such contracts may be for the operation only of a facility, or for design, construction and operation.

Mississippi Department of Corrections State agency that operates prisons

The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) is a state agency of Mississippi that operates prisons. It has its headquarters in Jackson. As of 2020 Burl Cain is the commissioner.

Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services

The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is a government agency of the State of Maryland that performs a number of functions, including the operation of state prisons. It has its headquarters in Towson, Maryland, an unincorporated community that is also the seat of Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, located north of Maryland's largest city of Baltimore. Additional offices for correctional institutions supervision are located on Reisterstown Road in northwest Baltimore.

CoreCivic U.S. prison-operating company

CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. Co-founded in 1983 in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas W. Beasley, Robert Crants, and T. Don Hutto, it received investments from the Tennessee Valley Authority, Vanderbilt University, and Jack C. Massey, the founder of Hospital Corporation of America.

North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) is a Los Angeles County jail, run by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Located approximately 40 miles (64 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, it is one of four jails located within the Pitchess Detention Center, in Castaic, California.

Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center Jail barge in Bronx, New York City, US

The Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center (VCBC), also known as the Vernon C. Bain Maritime Facility and under the nickname "The Boat", is an 800-bed jail barge used to hold inmates for the New York City Department of Corrections. The barge is anchored off the Bronx's southern shore, across from Rikers Island, near Hunts Point. It was built for $161 million at Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana, along the Mississippi River near New Orleans, and brought to New York in 1992 to reduce overcrowding in the island's land-bound buildings for a lower price. Nicknamed "The Boat" by prison staff and inmates, it is designed to handle inmates from medium- to maximum-security in 16 dormitories and 100 cells.

Oregon Department of Corrections

The Oregon Department of Corrections is the agency of the U.S. state of Oregon charged with managing a system of 14 state prisons since its creation by the state legislature in 1987. In addition to having custody of offenders sentenced to prison for more than 12 months, the agency provides program evaluation, oversight and funding for the community corrections activities of county governments. It is also responsible for interstate compact administration, jail inspections, and central information and data services regarding felons throughout the state. It has its headquarters in Salem.

GEO Group American institutional facilities company

The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO), headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The company's facilities include illegal immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, and mental-health and residential-treatment facilities. It also operates government-owned facilities pursuant to management contracts. As of December 31, 2019, the company managed and/or owned 95,000 beds at 129 facilities and provided community supervision services for more than 210,000 offenders and pretrial defendants. In 2019, agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53% of the company's revenues.

The Toronto South Detention Centre is a correctional facility in the district of Etobicoke in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a Government of Ontario-operated maximum-security correctional facility for adult male inmates serving a sentence of up to 2-years-less-a-day, and offenders who have been remanded into custody while awaiting trial. It is built on the site of the former Mimico Correctional Centre, which closed in 2011 and whose origins dated back to 1887. The Toronto South Detention Centre officially opened on January 29, 2014 replacing the Toronto Jail, the Toronto West Detention Centre, and the demolished Mimico Correctional Centre.

The District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) is a correctional agency responsible for the adult jails and other adult correctional institutions for the District of Columbia, in the United States. DCDC runs the D.C. Jail.

American Police Force (APF), and under its revised name American Private Police Force, was a fraudulent entity claiming to be a private military company. It never possessed any legitimacy to operate in the United States. The company's previous logo was an exact copy of the Serbian state coat of arms which caused some controversy and resulted in the Serbian government threatening legal action against APF if it did not remove or change the logo.

Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Government of Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rico Department of Correction and Rehabilitation is the law enforcement executive department of the government responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the U.S. The department has authority over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population who have broken the law.

The United States Virgin Islands Department of Justice is a department of the United States Virgin Islands government.

Management & Training Corporation or MTC is a contractor that manages private prisons and United States Job Corps centers, based in Centerville, Utah. MTC's core businesses are corrections, education and training, MTC medical, and economic & social development. MTC operates 21 correctional facilities in eight states. MTC also operates or partners in operating 22 of the 119 Job Corps centers across the country. They also operate in Great Britain, under the name MTCNovo.

Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility

Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility (TCCF) is a private prison for men, authorized by the Tallahatchie County Correctional Authority and operated by CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The maximum-security facility is located in unincorporated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, near Tutwiler in the Mississippi Delta. Since its opening with 352 prisoners, the prison has expanded capacity nearly ninefold, holding 2672 inmates by October 2008. It has housed inmates from Wisconsin, Colorado, Hawaii, Wyoming, Vermont, and California, in addition to prisoners from Louisiana and Mississippi. In 2010 the facility served as a county jail and also housed more than 1,000 prisoners from California. Since 2013, it has not held Mississippi state prisoners.

Willacy County Correctional Center is a closed detention center located on the east side of Route 77, at the edge of Raymondville City, Willacy County, Texas, United States.

Crystal City Correctional Center

Crystal City Correctional Center is a closed private prison near Crystal City, Texas. It is about 40 miles (64 km) from the Mexico–United States border.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prisons Impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted prisons globally. There have been outbreaks of COVID-19 reported in prisons and jails around the world, with the housing density and population turnover of many prisons contributing to an increased risk of contracting the virus compared to the general population. Prison crowding and lack of sanitation measures contribute to the risk of contracting diseases in prisons and jails. As a mitigation measure, several jurisdictions have released prisoners to reduce density and attempt to reduce the spread of the illness. There have also been protests among prisoners and prison breaks in multiple countries in response to prisoner anger over their risk of contracting illness in prison conditions. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, health services within prisons had issues providing adequate care for incarcerated people, and this has only been exacerbated by the impacts of COVID-19. Minority groups within the prison system have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ↑ Hardin Detention Center Controversy: Staff Briefing 10 January 2008
  2. ↑ Detention center efforts continue to move forward: By Miridith Morgan - Big Horn County News 17 March 2005
  3. ↑ Wyo won't put prisoners in Mont. jail, Casper Star-Tribune, Jennifer McKee, 29 May 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  4. ↑ CNN Hard-luck Montana town pushes to house Gitmo detainees 26 May 2009
  5. ↑ APF head Hilton has history of legal trouble - Served time in prison for theft, Billings Gazette, 30 September 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  6. ↑ APF Concerns Citizens, KULR Channel 8 TV, Billings, MT, Nick Lough, 2 October 2009.
  7. ↑ Hard time in Hardin, Billings Gazette, Jennifer McKee, 11 January 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Benson warned on private detention center", San Pedro Valley News-Sun, Thelma Grimes. 28 April 2010.
  9. ↑ Montana suspends plan for multimillion-dollar prison, Missoulian , Matt Gouras (AP), February 3, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  10. ↑ Montana job seekers stream into Hardin prison, Billings Gazette, Mike Ferguson, 16 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble, NPR, 28 March 2011,John Burnett. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  12. ↑ Town desperate for inmates for its jail finds some, CBS News , October 8, 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2016
  13. ↑ Long empty Hardin jail taking in American Indian inmates, Billings Gazette, Matthew Brown (AP), October 8, 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  14. ↑ Regional Hardin Jail Population drops to Zero, Billings Gazette , Matt Hudson, February 4, 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  15. ↑ BIA targets 2018 to reopen Two Rivers Detention Facility in Hardin, KTVQ , November 8, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2018.

Coordinates: 45°44′25″N107°36′02″W / 45.740303°N 107.600513°W / 45.740303; -107.600513

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.