The Detention Center
No jail operated (per Sheriff's Office site)
- Operated byNot applicable
- Evidence of no jailThe Sheriff's Office 'About Us' staff roster (patrol, admin, dispatch/911) lists no detention division or detention officers
- Nav checkphillipscountysheriff.org site navigation (About Us, Burn Permits, Contact Us, Forms, Jobs, Make a Report) has no jail/detention page
- What was triedhttps://phillipscountysheriff.org/, https://phillipscountysheriff.org/about-us — no jail/detention content found
Source: Phillips County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-24
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 Jerry Lytle
- Runs the jailElected Sheriff/Coroner; no jail currently appears to be operated (see jail notes)
- In office since2018, elected
- UndersheriffJordan Arthur
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Phillips County Sheriff's Office - About Us · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Montana district court judges and justices of the peace are state/county judicial officers elected independently of the sheriff and commissioners, not administrative county employees. The Justice of the Peace typically sets bail at first appearance.
17th Judicial District Court — Judge
- Hon. Yvonne Laird
Justice of the Peace / City Judge
- Gayle Stahl
- 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
- Phillips County does not appear to currently operate a jail: the Sheriff's Office site lists no detention staff or detention pages. Could not confirm from county sources where its prisoners are held if arrested; this is recorded as a genuine gap rather than assumed.
- Phillips County has no standalone official county government website found; phillipscountymt.gov exists only as an email domain.
- Board of County Commissioners: Bruce Christofferson (in office since 2018), Richard Dunbar (since 2020), John F. Carnahan (since 2022). Phillips County has no standalone public county government website — phillipscountymt.gov resolves only for department email addresses (direct connection attempt failed, no live site found); this contact information comes from the Phillco Economic Growth Council's published local-government directory, a local nonprofit, not the county itself.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Phillips 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