The Detention Center
None — Judith Basin County has no operating county jail
- Operated byNot applicable
- Where prisoners goA third-party jail directory (jailexchange.com) states the Judith Basin County Jail is closed and that offenders arrested in the county are booked at the Fergus County Jail, 121 8th Avenue South, Lewistown, MT — this could not be independently confirmed on Judith Basin County's or Fergus County's own government site
- Corroborating evidenceThe Fergus County Detention Center's own inmate roster page (fergusmt.gov/detention-center-roster) lists at least one inmate held on Judith Basin County District Court charges
- What was triedjbcountymt.gov (sheriff, commissioners, justice court, clerk of district court pages) and the Montana Judicial Branch's Judith Basin County resource guide (courts.mt.gov) — none named a Judith Basin jail or explicitly stated the Fergus County arrangement
Source: Judith Basin County Jail (third-party directory) · checked 2026-08-24
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot applicable — no county jail
- Original costNot applicable — no county jail
- Paid for byNot applicable — no county jail
- BedsNot applicable — no county jail
Since then
- Not applicable — no county jail
The Sheriff
Sheriff Richard Hayes
- Runs the jailNo county jail; per the Sheriff's Office there is no jail housing information published
- StatusActing Sheriff, appointed July 1, 2025, per jbcountymt.gov
- StaffingFour full-time officers and one full-time dispatcher
- How the office is filledNormally elected; current sheriff is serving in an acting/appointed capacity per the county's own site
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Judith Basin County Sheriff · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Montana district court judges and justices of the peace are elected. The Justice of the Peace usually sets bail at first appearance. Both are state/county judicial officers, not county administrative officials.
- 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
- Judith Basin County is one of the smaller Montana counties that does not operate its own jail; this is recorded as a finding, not a gap, per the research brief.
- Montana has no confirmed statutory adult jail inspection agency; state_inspection recorded empty per the research brief.
- Board of County Commissioners: James D. Moore (Chairman, District 1), Don L. Hajenga (District 2), Cody McDonald (District 3).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Judith Basin 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