Riverside Special Needs Unit is pictured in Boulder, Montana on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (Jordan Hansen / Daily Montanan)

Part of Montana’s effort to reduce overcrowding in its prisons can be found a few minutes outside of Boulder.

Gov. Greg Gianforte, along with Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin and Jefferson County Commissioner Cory Kirsch, toured the Riverside Special Needs Unit on Tuesday, which has been repurposed under a new state law.

The name of the unit reflects who used to be there — 25 inmates described by officials as “geriatric” were moved to a special unit at Montana State Prison to open up space in the facility.

Now, 50 women are imprisoned there and the state plans to add more.

“From an agency point of view, our agency has been neglected for decades, and

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