Prison receives aluminum, can resume making license plates

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Workers at the Montana State Prison have resumed making license plates after receiving a shipment of aluminum last week, the Department of Corrections said Tuesday.

The 40,000-pound (18,144-kilogram) shipment provides the prison's license plate shop with enough aluminum to get it through February or March, said Gayle Butler, administrator of Montana Correctional Enterprises.

"Workers in the license plate shop are working overtime to get us caught up," Butler said in a statement.

MCE is a program at the prison in Deer Lodge that provides education and work experience to help inmates more successfully transition to life outside the prison.

The license plate shop produces about 750,000 plates per year, the Department of Corrections said.

When the shop ran out of aluminum in late October due to supply chain problems caused by the pandemic, MCE printed temporary license plates on reflective sheeting, but without the aluminum backing.

Now that production has resumed, about 1,200 people who received the temporary plates should expect to receive aluminum plates within the next four months, said Laurie Bakri, administrator of the state's Motor Vehicle Division.