Crossroads Correctional Center

A privately operated secure prison for men in Shelby, run by CoreCivic under contract with the Montana Department of Corrections — the state's only in-state private prison.

Overview

Crossroads Correctional Center is a secure prison for men in Shelby, the seat of Toole County, in north-central Montana near the Canadian border. It is operated by CoreCivic, a private corrections company, under contract with the Montana Department of Corrections (MT DOC), and it holds men in the custody of the state. The facility has capacity for about 750 people.

Crossroads opened in 1999 and is Montana’s only in-state private prison. The Montana Department of Corrections contracts with CoreCivic to house state-sentenced men there, and the facility is listed among the department’s contracted secure facilities rather than among the four prisons the state operates directly.

Montana assigns custody level based on factors that include sentence length, time remaining, and conduct, and a person’s custody level can change during incarceration. Because the contracted facility manages its own day-to-day operations, families confirm the arrangements that apply to a specific person — including whether a visit is contact or non-contact — directly with the facility before a first visit.

What Makes Crossroads Correctional Center Different

Crossroads is not a state-run prison. It is owned and operated by CoreCivic, a private company, which staffs and manages the facility under a contract with the Montana Department of Corrections. It is the only private prison located within Montana; the state also places some men in a CoreCivic prison in Mississippi, but Crossroads is the only one inside the state’s borders.

The practical effect for families is that Crossroads sets several of its own procedures rather than following the statewide Montana DOC systems. The department itself notes that the communications options it lists for state facilities are not available at all contracted facilities. As described in the sections below, Crossroads receives incoming personal mail directly at the facility — not through Montana’s off-site TextBehind scanning service — and it runs its own phone and video arrangements and its own visiting schedule. Approval to visit still goes through Montana DOC, but the booking and the rules at the door are set by the facility. Confirm the current details with Crossroads before relying on them.

Visiting

Crossroads Correctional Center is operated by CoreCivic under contract with Montana DOC, and it sets its own visiting, phone, and mail arrangements rather than the statewide systems. Confirm the current details directly with the facility:

Getting There and Parking

Crossroads Correctional Center is at 50 Crossroads Drive in Shelby, in Toole County in north-central Montana, near the Canadian border. Shelby sits at the junction of Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 2; Interstate 15 runs south toward Great Falls, and U.S. Highway 2 runs east and west across the northern tier of the state. The nearest larger city with a commercial airport is Great Falls, to the south.

Visitors confirm current entry procedures, the visitor-processing location, parking, and what may be brought onto the grounds with the facility before arriving, because items such as phones, smartwatches, cameras, and recording devices are generally not permitted inside.

Nearby Services

Shelby has limited lodging and dining, with a small number of motels and restaurants in town and additional options in Cut Bank to the west and a wider range in Great Falls to the south along Interstate 15. Emergency medical care is available locally in Shelby, with larger hospitals in Great Falls. Visitors traveling a long distance generally find the most options for fuel, food, and overnight stays in Shelby itself and along the Interstate 15 and U.S. Highway 2 corridors.

Mail

Crossroads handles its own mail rather than using Montana’s statewide system. The Montana Department of Corrections scans incoming personal mail off-site through a vendor, TextBehind, for the prisons it operates directly — but contracted facilities are not part of that arrangement. At Crossroads, incoming personal mail goes directly to the facility.

Address personal mail with the person’s full first and last name and AO Number, sent to the facility’s mailing address. Put the sender’s full name and return address on the envelope. Legal mail goes directly to the facility, where it is handled under the rules for privileged correspondence. Books and publications must be shipped directly from an approved vendor or retailer to the facility.

Because the facility sets its own mail rules and the current mailing address and requirements can change, confirm the correct address, the addressing format, and what may be sent directly with Crossroads before mailing anything.

Learn More

• Visiting — Montana’s approved-visitor application, scheduling, and the rules that apply at every facility.
• Mail — how Montana scans incoming personal mail off-site and how to address letters, legal mail, books, and money.
• Phone & Video — calls, tablet messaging, and video visits through ICSolutions and GettingOut.
• Money — how to put money on an account and the vendors Montana uses.
• Medical — how health care works in Montana’s prisons and how to raise a medical concern.
• Transfers — how people enter the system, reception and assessment, and how transfers between facilities work.