The Detention Center
Not found (Sheriff's Office site refers only to 'the detention center'; no dedicated jail page)
- Operated byPondera County Sheriff's Office
- Confirmation a jail existsSheriff's Office page: duties include 'overseeing the detention center'
- AddressNot found; Sheriff's Office is at 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 109, Conrad, MT 59425
- What was triedChecked full ponderacountymt.gov department/board navigation (32+ links) — no separate detention center department page exists
Source: Pondera County, Montana - Sheriff's Office · 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 Robert C. Skorupa
- Runs the jailSheriff's Office duties include 'overseeing the detention center'
- Party / termRepublican, 2023-2026
- UndersheriffRobert Bender
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Pondera County, Montana - Sheriff's Office · 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.
9th Judicial District Court — Judge
- Hon. Greg Bonilla
Justice of the Peace
- Cody Shaw (2023-2026)
- 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
- Pondera County confirms it operates a detention center only in passing, as one of the Sheriff's Office's listed duties ('overseeing the detention center'); the county's own site has no dedicated jail/detention page giving a name, address, capacity, or any of the ten transparency items.
- Board of County Commissioners: Zane Drishinski, Central District (R, 2023-2028); Thomas A. Kuka, Western District (R, 2021-2026); Jim Morren, Eastern District (R, 2025-2030). Meets Wednesdays 10:00am at the Courthouse.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Pondera 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