Hiland Mountain Correctional Center

Alaska's dedicated state facility for women, in Eagle River (Municipality of Anchorage) — the primary women's prison and women's intake, holding women across all custody levels, both pretrial and sentenced.

Overview

Hiland Mountain Correctional Center (HMCC), on Hesterberg Road in Eagle River, is Alaska’s dedicated state facility for women. It is the primary women’s prison and the main intake point for women entering AK DOC custody. Because Alaska operates a unified corrections system — the state runs both pretrial detention and prisons for sentenced people, and there is no county jail system — Hiland Mountain holds women across all custody levels, both pretrial (unsentenced) and sentenced.

What Makes Hiland Mountain Correctional Center Different

• It is the state’s dedicated facility for women. Most women in AK DOC custody are concentrated here, and Hiland Mountain serves as the women’s intake facility. Some co-ed regional facilities in other parts of Alaska also hold women short-term for pretrial or proximity reasons, but Hiland Mountain is the women’s prison.
• It holds all custody levels, pretrial and sentenced. In Alaska’s unified system, the same facility houses women being held before trial and women serving sentences, across Community, Minimum, Medium, and Close custody.
• Maternity care is provided here. Pregnancy-related medical care for women in custody is among the health services available at the facility.

Visiting

The statewide AK DOC rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center. The facility’s own arrangements:

The full approval process is in Visiting an Alaska prison.

Getting There and Parking

The facility is on Hesterberg Road in Eagle River, in the northern part of the Municipality of Anchorage, off the Glenn Highway.

Distances are approximate, based on map routing. Visitor parking is on site.

Nearby Services

Eagle River has lodging, gas, and food, and the larger city of Anchorage is a short drive south on the Glenn Highway with additional options. The nearest hospital emergency rooms are in the Anchorage area.

Mail

Alaska DOC does not use an off-site mail vendor. Incoming personal mail goes directly to the facility, where mail staff open and inspect it for contraband before delivery. Address personal mail with the person’s full name and prisoner number, the facility name, and the facility’s mailing address:

[Prisoner’s full name and number] Hiland Mountain Correctional Center 9101 Hesterberg Road Eagle River, AK 99577

Use a plain white envelope and white paper, and write only in blue or black ink or pencil. Mail without a complete return address that includes the sender’s name is destroyed. Greeting cards must be commercially produced, single-fold, on standard card stock, and no larger than 6 by 8 inches. Photographs must be printed on plain white or photographic paper and unaltered. Stickers, labels, glitter, tape, and anything attached with adhesive are not allowed (postal-service labels are an exception), and sexually explicit material is prohibited.

Legal and other privileged mail (for example, mail with an attorney) goes to the facility marked “Privileged” and is handled separately. Books, magazines, newspapers, and other publications must be ordered from an approved vendor and shipped directly to the facility — a family member can place the order, but the person must have funds to pay for it in advance. Packages are accepted only from approved vendors through the commissary; friends and family cannot send gift packages. Contact the facility for its current approved-vendor list. Full rules are in Sending mail in Alaska.

Learn More

• Visiting an Alaska prison — Approved visitor lists, the per-facility scheduling and appointment norms, dress code, ID, and what to expect at remote facilities.
• Sending mail in Alaska — How to address personal mail to the facility, the white-envelope rules, and how to order books, publications, and packages from approved vendors.
• Phone calls and video in Alaska — Setting up a Securus AdvanceConnect account, how calls are billed, free monthly calls, and the rules on three-way and forwarded calls.
• Sending money in Alaska — How to put money on an Offender Trust Account in person or by mail, who is allowed to deposit, accepted forms, and the monthly limit.
• Medical care in Alaska prisons — How health, dental, and mental-health care work in DOC facilities, co-pay amounts, and how to request care.
• Intake, classification, and transfers in Alaska — The booking process, the four custody levels, and how people are housed in Alaska’s unified jail-and-prison system.