The Detention Center
Cascade County Detention Center (also referred to on the county's site as the Cascade County Regional Detention Center / Adult Detention Center)
- Operated byCascade County Sheriff's Office (per job postings, run per Sheriff's Office and Montana Department of Corrections policy)
- Address3800 Ulm N Frontage Road, Great Falls, MT 59404
- Designed capacity372 beds (per 2023 PREA Final Audit Report)
- Current population at time of 2023 audit400 (over designed capacity)
- Average daily population, prior 12 months (2023 audit)412
- Population heldBoth females and males, ages 18+; security levels Minimum, Medium, Close, Maximum
- Detention SupervisorAlex Lugo
Source: 2023 PREA Final Audit Report, Cascade County, MT · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds372 (designed capacity, per 2023 PREA Final Audit Report)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Jesse Slaughter
- In office sinceJanuary 1, 2019
- How the office is filledElected
- Runs the jailYes — Cascade County Detention Center, operated by the Sheriff's Office
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Cascade County, MT · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Montana district court judges and justices of the peace/city judges are elected. The Justice of the Peace typically sets bail at first appearance. Both are state/county judicial officers under the Montana judicial branch, per MCA Title 3.
8th Judicial District Court Judges (Cascade County)
- Hon. David Grubich
- Hon. Elizabeth Best
- Hon. John Kutzman
- Hon. John W. Parker
Cascade County (Great Falls) Justice of the Peace
- Steven T. Fagenstrom
- Eric Bailey
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-24
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The 2023 PREA Final Audit Report, posted on the Sheriff's Office page, states the facility was over its designed capacity of 372 beds at points in the prior 12 months (current population 400; average daily population 412).
- The Sheriff's Office page also links PREA Policy, the 2020 and 2023 PREA Final Audit Reports, and PREA Annual/Comparison Reports for 2019-2020 through 2024-2025.
- The FY2023 Budget Handout PDF states ARPA funds supported the Sheriff's Office, Adult Detention, Juvenile Detention, and Health Department; a dedicated stand-alone adult-detention budget line was not separately confirmed in what was reviewed.
- Job postings for Adult Detention Officer describe the facility operating 'in accordance with Montana Department of Corrections and Center policies,' but no contract or rate schedule for holding other agencies' prisoners was found published.
- Colorado's mandatory jail-standards commission does not apply to Montana; Montana has no confirmed statutory adult jail inspection agency, so state_inspection is recorded as empty per the research brief.
- Board of County Commissioners: Joe Briggs (District 1), James L. Larson (District 2, Chairman), Eric Hinebauch (District 3).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Cascade County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-08-24 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered