The Detention Center
Lewis and Clark County Detention Center
- Operated byLewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office
- Address221 Breckenridge Ave, Helena, MT 59601
- RenovationCompleted Spring 2021
- Booking hours24 hours a day, every day
- RosterPublished as PDF at lccountymt.gov/files/assets/county/v/177/sheriff/documents/jail_roster.pdf
- TransportsApproximately 400 prisoner transports, 150 medical transports, 80 mental-health transports, and 30 extraditions annually
- Related facilityLaw and Justice Center, 406 Fuller Ave, Helena — houses Sheriff's Office, Helena PD, Municipal Court, Pre-Trial Services
- Inmate communications vendorNCIC (video visits, messaging, prepaid calling); no rate schedule published on county site
- What was triedChecked lccountymt.gov/Sheriff/Detention-Center, /Sheriff, and /Government/Criminal-Justice-Services for beds/capacity, year built, cost, funding, budget, PREA, inspections, contracts, bond info, fees — none published
Source: Lewis & Clark County — Detention Center · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓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 — 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
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Renovation completed Spring 2021 (lccountymt.gov/Sheriff/Detention-Center)
The Sheriff
Sheriff Leo Dutton
- Runs the jailYes — Lewis and Clark County Detention Center, operated by the Sheriff's Office
- TitleSheriff-Coroner
- How the office is filledElected
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Lewis & Clark County Sheriff — Administration · 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.
1st Judicial District Court Judges
- Mike Menahan
- Michael McMahon
- Kathy Seeley
- Christopher Abbott
- Standing Master Roe
Lewis and Clark County Justice Court — Justices of the Peace
- Michael G. Swingley
- Mark V. Piskolich
- 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 recorded empty per the research brief.
- Checked the Sheriff, Detention Center, and Criminal Justice Services pages; no bed count, itemized budget, PREA, inspection, death-in-custody, contract-rate, bond, or fee information published on the county's own site.
- Board of County Commissioners: Tom Rolfe (Chair, District 2), Andy Hunthausen (Vice Chair, District 1), Candace Payne (District 3).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Lewis and Clark 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