The Detention Center
Lincoln County Detention Center
- Operated byLincoln County Sheriff's Office
- Address512 California Ave, Libby, MT 59923
- Capacity29 adult males and females; portable beds ('boats') used during overpopulation
- LicensingLicensed by the Montana Department of Corrections
- StaffingDetention officers certified through Montana POST
- RosterPublished at portal-mt-lincoln-so.centralsquarecloud.com/inmates
- Phone vendorSecurus Technologies; no rate schedule published on county site
- VisitationFri–Sun, 9am–8pm, 24-hour advance scheduling, 20 min/week per inmate
- What was triedChecked lincolncountymt.us/sheriff-home/detention/ for year built, cost, funding, budget, PREA, inspections, contracts, bond info — none published
Source: Lincoln County Sheriff — Detention · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗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
- Beds29
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Darren Short
- Runs the jailYes — Lincoln County Detention Center, operated by the Sheriff's Office
- DivisionsPatrol, Investigations, Drug Task Force, Detention
- 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: Lincoln County Sheriff's Office · 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.
19th Judicial District Court Judge
- Matthew Cuffe
Lincoln County Justice Court — Justice of the Peace
- Jay C. Sheffield
- 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 lincolncountymt.us detention, sheriff, and court pages; no budget, PREA, independent-inspection result (DOC licensing is not the same as a published inspection result), death-in-custody, contract-rate, bond, or fee information published on the county's own site.
- Board of County Commissioners: Brent Teske (District 1, Chairperson), Jim Hammons (District 2), Noel Duram (District 3).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Lincoln 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