The Detention Center
Fergus County Detention Facility
- Operated byFergus County Sheriff's Office
- Address121 8th Avenue South, Lewistown, MT 59457 (mailing: PO Box 180)
- RosterDetention Center Roster published and updated (e.g. entry dated 8/23/2026), showing name, charge, bond and originating county — including "courtesy hold" bookings for other Montana counties (e.g. Wheatland, Judith Basin)
- Phone/video ratesPublished rate sheet: calls in the U.S. $0.16/minute, Mexico/Canada $0.25/minute, other international $0.35/minute; video visits $0.30/minute; messages $0.25 each, picture/video messages $0.35 each (NCIC Inmate Communications)
- Year built / cost / bedsNot found
Source: Fergus County Sheriff's Office — Inmate Communications · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Ryan Peterson
- Runs the jailYes — the Fergus County Detention Facility
- TitleSheriff/Coroner
- How the office is filledElected
- UndersheriffCory Smith
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Fergus County, Montana — Sheriff/Coroner's Office · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Montana District Court judges (10th Judicial District, covering Fergus, Judith Basin and Petroleum counties) and the Justice of the Peace are both elected and are not county officials. Judge Perry was appointed by Gov. Gianforte in June 2022 to fill a vacancy and has not been reported replaced.
10th Judicial District Court
- Hon. Heather Perry
Justice Court — Justice of the Peace
- Kelly Mantooth
- 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
- Montana has no confirmed statutory adult jail inspection agency; state_inspection is left blank per the research brief.
- The live roster shows bookings on behalf of other Montana counties (e.g., a Judith Basin County District Court case and a Wheatland County "courtesy hold"), indicating Fergus County holds prisoners for other counties in practice, but no published contract or rate schedule for that arrangement was found on the county's site, so contracts is marked no.
- No specific bail-posting guidance was found on the county's site, so bond_info is marked no.
- Board of County Commissioners: Ross Butcher (District 1), Jennifer Saunders (District 2), Travis Willson (District 3)
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Fergus 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