Multi-custody (men) · State Prison · MT DOC

Montana State Prison

Deer Lodge, Powell County, Montana

Visiting schedules change without notice. Always call before traveling.

Call Visiting Office: (406) 415-6126 Info last verified: June 2026

Montana's largest men's prison, in Deer Lodge; a multi-custody facility that holds the men's reception unit, the men's death row, and the state execution chamber.

Statewide rules that apply at Montana DOC prisons

These rules are set by MT DOC and apply at every unit. The full list — including all permitted and prohibited items and the approval process — is in Visiting in Montana.

Dress code

Dress modestly — Montana facilities enforce a visiting dress code that bars revealing, transparent, or provocative clothing, gang-related items, and anything resembling what incarcerated people or staff wear.
Each facility may turn away a visitor who is dressed out of code, and phones and other electronic devices are not allowed inside, so confirm the specific facility's rules before traveling.

ID: Every visitor must be approved before visiting — create an account at login.mt.gov and complete the online Visitation Application; approval can take up to 90 days. Bring a government-issued photo ID to each visit. The contract prisons (Crossroads and Dawson County) handle their own visitor approval, so confirm with the facility.
What to bring: Bring only what the facility allows — phones and most personal items are not permitted in the visiting room. Money for phone and tablet accounts is sent through ICSolutions, while trust-account checks and money orders go to the facility; money is never handed over at a visit.
Scheduling: Scheduling is not unified statewide. At Montana State Prison and Montana Women's Prison, visits are scheduled online through ICSolutions (Montana Women's Prison requires advance online scheduling). The contract prisons — Crossroads Correctional Center and the Dawson County Correctional Facility — set their own visiting process, so confirm directly with the facility. Men enter the system through the Martz Diagnostic Intake Unit at Montana State Prison; women through Montana Women's Prison.

Full statewide rules: Visiting in Montana

Overview

Montana State Prison (MSP) is a multi-custody state prison for men in Deer Lodge, Powell County, in the Deer Lodge valley of southwestern Montana. It is operated by the Montana Department of Corrections (MT DOC) and is the largest men’s prison in the state system, holding roughly 1,600 people across a 68-acre compound.

MSP houses men classified across the full custody range, from low through high custody. Because custody assignments and housing change, the prison listed on the Correctional Offender Network (ConWeb) may differ from where a person was previously held; the locator is searchable by the Department of Corrections ID number or by name.

What Makes Montana State Prison Different

It is Montana’s largest men’s prison, holding low- through high-custody men on a single multi-custody compound.
It is the men’s reception point. Newly sentenced men enter the state system through the Martz Diagnostic Intake Unit (about 200 beds) at MSP, where arrivals are assessed and classified before placement.
It holds the men’s death row and the state execution chamber. Montana retains the death penalty in statute, but the state has carried out no execution since 2006. In 2015 a state district court enjoined the lethal-injection procedure, and that injunction has not been lifted; a 2025 bill that would have allowed the state to resume executions failed in the legislature. Two men are under a death sentence. There is no women’s death row in Montana.

Visiting

The statewide MT DOC rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at Montana State Prison. The facility’s own arrangements:

Approval first: Every prospective visitor must be approved by facility staff. Apply online by creating an account at login.mt.gov and completing the Visitation Application. Review can take up to 90 days.
Scheduling: Visits at Montana State Prison are scheduled online in advance through ICSolutions. Confirm the current process and schedule with the facility before traveling.
Days and hours: Visiting days and hours are set by the facility and have run on a rotating schedule so that all units receive both morning and afternoon slots. Confirm the current schedule with the facility.
Contact vs. non-contact: Whether a visit is contact or non-contact depends on the person’s custody classification and housing unit; higher-custody and special-housing visits may be non-contact. Confirm the current status with the facility.

Getting There and Parking

Montana State Prison is at 400 Conley Lake Road, Deer Lodge, MT 59722, in Powell County. Deer Lodge sits along Interstate 90 in southwestern Montana, roughly 40 miles northwest of Butte and about 80 miles southeast of Missoula. Confirm visiting days, the schedule, and the person’s custody and visitation status before making the trip.

Nearby Services

Deer Lodge has lodging, fuel, and restaurants in town and near the Interstate 90 interchange. Larger services, including additional lodging and hospital care, are available in Butte and Missoula along I-90.

Mail

Incoming personal mail for people at Montana’s state prisons is not delivered on paper. Since May 1, 2024, the Montana Department of Corrections has routed personal mail through an off-site vendor, TextBehind, which scans each letter and delivers a digital copy to the person’s tablet. The original paper is not forwarded to the facility.

Address personal mail exactly as follows:

Montana State Prison [Full first and last name], [AO Number] PO Box 247 Phoenix, MD 21131

Put the sender’s full name and return address in the top-left corner of the envelope. Mail that is not addressed this way, or that has no return address, is returned to sender.

Legal mail is handled differently: it goes directly to the facility, where it is opened by staff in the person’s presence rather than scanned off-site. Books and publications must be shipped directly from an approved vendor or retailer (such as Amazon) to the facility, and the sender must be an approved visitor. Checks and money orders are sent to the facility — not to the Maryland scanning address — and should not include a personal letter.

Verify the current mailing instructions and approved-vendor rules with the facility before sending 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.

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.