The Detention Center
Not found — Petroleum County has no jail/detention department listed on its own site
- Operated byNot applicable
- Where prisoners goNot found — could not be confirmed on Petroleum County's own site or any other county government site
- What was triedpetroleumcountymt.org departments list (13 departments, none for jail/detention), Sheriff's Department page (searched explicitly for 'jail', 'detention', 'custody', 'incarcerat', 'housed' — none found), and the County News page — no jail or inter-county holding arrangement named
Source: Petroleum County — Departments · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
0/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗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
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Dan Linder
- Runs the jailNo jail/detention department is listed among the county's 13 official departments, and the Sheriff's Department page contains no reference to jail, detention, custody, or housing
- 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: Petroleum County — Sheriff's Department · 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 judicial officers, not county officials.
Petroleum County Justice Court — Justice of the Peace
- William Menager
- 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 →
Notes on the record
- Petroleum County's official departments list (13 departments) does not include a jail or detention department, and the Sheriff's Department page contains no reference to jail, detention, custody, or housing arrangements; where the county's prisoners are actually held could not be confirmed on any county government site.
- Montana has no confirmed statutory adult jail inspection agency; state_inspection recorded empty per the research brief.
- Board of County Commissioners: Paul McKenna (Chairman, term 2026), Sig Pugrud (term 2030), Craig Iverson (term 2028). Commissioners meet between the 4th and 10th of each month.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Petroleum 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