09/16/2026
Amanda at 406 Revolutionized says it well. Copy and pasted
I spoke about the damn pheasants. What most don’t realize that program was pulled out of their ass when they screwed the dairy contract up.
They should have looked to ou that milk into our schools and food banks instead of shutting down dairy
They said they release 1000 birds a season. Now get this it’s for youth hunting but can’t tell u how many birds are actually harvested so is it 100 of those thousand birds or 999 of those thousand birds they don’t know they’ve never said
And here’s another less known fact, according to FWP those birds if they’re not shot in harvested by the youth that are just getting into pheasant hunt, they die within two days
They’re also not saying if it’s a native species of pheasant or some damn bird that they hauled in from Canada
They have a new word at DOC “soft job skills “. They have stopped saying that raising pheasant’s job training I must’ve finally made a point that I don’t think anybody’s getting out gonna raise pheasants for a living.
But it “teaches soft job skills”. Because they’re trying to tie in every single thing they do with MSP now to job training skills. They have figured out that that’s a great buzz word to use.
Just know that the women don’t have anything equal
Doesn’t seem to be a popular program with anybody but one or two guys and MWP and DOC those pheasants cost hundreds of thousands of dollars every year that MWP pays them every time they pick up a cage of birds
But I don’t see anybody telling us that our native wild birds are in decline
It just don’t make any sense
“📢 BIG UPDATE FROM TODAY’S PUBLIC SAFETY INTERIM BUDGET COMMITTEE — HERE’S WHAT DOC TOLD LAWMAKERS
I spent today listening to the Montana Department of Corrections report to the Public Safety Interim Budget Committee, and there was a LOT discussed. If you have a loved one in Montana’s correctional system, here are some of the biggest things that came out of today’s meeting.
💧 MONTANA STATE PRISON WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
This was one of the most important discussions of the day.
Director Eric Strauss explained what happened during the major MSP water failure last fall. He said the prison’s old water-system design required pressure to be shut off across the facility to isolate a section of pipe.
When the system was repressurized, sand and sediment that had accumulated in the system moved through the plumbing, causing additional problems. According to Strauss, it contributed to leaking/burst pipes and caused problems with flush valves throughout secure housing. The prison’s main water tank was depleted very quickly.
Strauss said DOC has since installed screens intended to prevent additional sand from entering the system and is working on cleaning existing sediment from the water tank/system.
But here's what really caught my attention:
Strauss acknowledged that the aging infrastructure still experiences failures with some regularity.
The committee specifically questioned what happens between now and completion of the replacement infrastructure. Strauss indicated the new infrastructure is expected to come online around the time the new housing units open—approximately January 2029.
That means this isn't just about what happened last fall. The existing system still has to serve the people living at MSP while this work continues.
And as many of you know, I have independently been reviewing Montana DEQ's drinking-water records. Those records show repeated total-coliform-positive samples at MSP during August 2026. The associated E. coli results were negative, which is an important distinction. Total coliform is generally used as an indicator of potential vulnerabilities in a drinking-water system.
I raised this during public comment because families deserve answers about what caused those results, what corrective actions were taken, and how the water is being monitored.
👮 STAFFING REMAINS A PROBLEM
Legislative staff reported approximately 97.59 vacant FTE positions across DOC—a 7.6% vacancy rate—including 56 correctional-officer vacancies.
Strauss also acknowledged something families have been saying for a long time: when there aren't enough correctional officers, it can restrict incarcerated people's access to opportunities because staff aren't available to provide supervision.
He also said DOC loses roughly 40% of newly hired employees within their first six months.
🏛️ COUNTY JAILS ARE STILL BACKED UP
DOC described jail holds as one of the biggest pressures on the correctional system.
Strauss said approximately 60–65 women are currently sitting in county jails waiting for placement in a secure DOC facility.
Lawmakers also asked how many jail holds involve parole violations. DOC did not have that number immediately available and said they would work on providing it.
DOC also said one of the major bottlenecks isn't simply prison beds—it's treatment beds, particularly substance-use treatment placements.
That distinction matters.
🚪 PEOPLE GRANTED CONDITIONAL PAROLE BUT STILL INSIDE
Senator Shane Morigeau asked a question I was very glad to hear:
How many people have been granted parole but remain incarcerated because they are still waiting to complete required programming?
He recalled the previous number being around 230 people.
DOC did not have the updated number available today and said they would bring it tomorrow.
Director Strauss clarified that many of these are conditional parole grants requiring completion of programming before release. But that still raises an important question:
If access to DOC-required programming is standing between someone and release, how long are people waiting—and what is that costing Montana taxpayers?
Tomorrow's meeting is focused on PROGRAMMING, so I will absolutely be listening for that updated number.
📊 LAWMAKERS PUSHED DOC FOR ACTUAL MEASURABLE RESULTS
This was another important part of today's meeting.
Committee members questioned DOC about goals in its annual plan that don't currently provide enough information to determine whether DOC is actually succeeding.
They asked for things like:
What is the baseline? What is the target? What is the deadline? And when will it actually be completed?
Director Strauss acknowledged that a performance measure without that context can essentially be meaningless and said DOC is developing a dashboard that will include baselines, targets and month-to-month performance.
The committee also pushed back against open-ended statements about things being “worked on” and asked DOC to provide actual completion dates.
👏 THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF OVERSIGHT WE NEED.
If hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are going into Montana corrections, lawmakers—and the public—should be able to see what was promised, when it was supposed to happen, how much it cost, and whether it actually worked.
🏢 OTHER IMPORTANT UPDATES
DOC also discussed plans to transition Pine Hills in Miles City toward housing adult women while moving the juvenile population to Riverside in Boulder. Strauss said roughly 11–12 adult women have already been moved to Pine Hills.
DOC is also working to expand treatment capacity, has completed a staffing analysis, is conducting security assessments, and announced progress on the RFP process involving Montana's prerelease centers.
The department also discussed working with the Board of Pardons and Parole to identify parole-eligible individuals who have federal detainers, allowing qualifying individuals who are granted parole to potentially transfer into federal custody rather than continuing to occupy a Montana prison bed.
📢 AND WE'RE NOT DONE.
The Public Safety Interim Budget Committee meets again tomorrow, September 16, with a major focus on correctional programming.
That discussion matters tremendously because programming affects rehabilitation, parole, release dates, prison capacity and ultimately whether people successfully return to their communities.
I'll be listening, taking notes, asking questions, and continuing to bring this information back to all of you.
This is why families need to be paying attention to these meetings.
You don't have to rely on somebody else's version of what DOC said. You can watch these meetings yourself:
https://streaming-video.legmt.gov/browse
Scroll down and find the Public Safety Interim Budget Committee meeting.
Transparency starts with paying attention.
406 REVOLUTIONIZED “
