53-30-504. Authority to enter into contracts -- terms -- financing. (1) The department may contract with one or more local governmental entities or corporations for the housing of and provision of services to inmates sentenced to the department or the department's correctional institutions at a regional correctional facility designed, financed, constructed, or operated by a local governmental entity, a corporation, the department, or any combination of a local governmental entity, a corporation, and the department.
     (2) The contract must be authorized and approved by the governor, the department, and the governing body of the local governmental entity or the corporation, whichever is party to the contract. The contract must set forth fully the purposes, powers, rights, and responsibilities of each party to the contract and address necessary and proper matters set forth in 7-11-105.
     (3) A contract may include an agreement to jointly design, finance, construct, and operate a regional correctional facility.
     (4) The department may not enter into a contract unless the department and the local governmental entity or corporation has the legal authority and the ability to finance its share of the costs under the contract.
     (5) A regional correctional facility may be constructed on real property that is owned by the state of Montana, a local governmental entity, or a corporation or that is jointly owned.
     (6) The proceeds of long-range building program general obligation bonds authorized to be issued in accordance with Title 17, chapter 5, part 8, may be used, in whole or in part, to construct a regional correctional facility that may be owned and operated by a local governmental entity, whether or not the facility or any part of it is to be owned and operated by the state. If the proceeds of long-range building program general obligation bonds or other state revenue is to be used in whole or in part to construct a regional correctional facility that is to be owned and operated by a local governmental entity, the department of administration is not required to procure the design, engineering, or construction services for the facility. The contract may provide that the local governmental entity shall procure the services, but must also provide that the department of administration must be involved in the development and approval of the plans and specifications for the facility prior to the time the facility is let to bid.
     (7) The department shall use the proceeds of long-range building program bonds and other state revenue appropriated for regional correctional facilities to negotiate with local governmental entities, corporations, or private providers to obtain the greatest number of beds that is consistent with program objectives for the least cost to the state.
     (8) An individual, corporation, partnership, association, or other private organization or entity may not construct a regional correctional facility in this state, if privately operated or privately owned and operated, unless authorized by the department.
     (9) An individual, corporation, partnership, association, or other private organization or entity may not operate a regional correctional facility in this state unless licensed by the department. A license is nontransferable.
     (10) A regional correctional facility may house persons who are charged or convicted in this state, another state, or federal court in the detention center portion of a regional correctional facility. A person charged or convicted in another state or charged or convicted in federal court in another state may not be confined in a state correctional facility portion of a regional correctional facility in this state unless the confinement is under and governed by Title 46, chapter 19, part 3 or 4, and the department authorizes the placement of the person in the state correctional facility portion of the regional correctional facility.

     History: En. Sec. 4, Ch. 316, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 224, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 19, Ch. 491, L. 1999.