The Detention Center
Ravalli County Detention Center (RCDC)
- Operated byRavalli County Sheriff's Office
- Address205 Bedford Street, Suite I, Hamilton, MT 59840 (entrance on Madison)
- Office hoursMonday-Thursday, 8:00am-5:00pm
- Bail/bond guidanceBond payments by credit/debit card via online link; cash/money order/cashier's check accepted at the facility
- Phone/video/messaging ratesCalls: $0.16/min (US), $0.25/min (Mexico/Canada), $0.35/min (other international); Video Visits $0.30/min; Messages $0.25 each; Picture/Video Messages $0.35 each, via NCIC
- PREASheriff's Office publishes a PREA zero-tolerance/reporting flyer for inmates; not an audit result
Source: Ravalli County, MT - Adult Detention Center · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓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
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
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 Stephen Holton
- Runs the jailYes — the Ravalli County Detention Center
- Address205 Bedford St., Suite G, Hamilton, MT 59840
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Ravalli County, MT - Sheriff Stephen Holton · 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.
21st Judicial District Court — Judges
- Hon. Howard F. Recht
- Hon. Jennifer Lint
Justice of the Peace (Hamilton)
- Scott Burlingham
- Jennifer Ray
- 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
- prea is recorded 'no': the county publishes a PREA zero-tolerance/how-to-report flyer for inmates, but this is not a PREA audit result as the brief's check asks for.
- The county has a 'Budgets & Financials' page (https://ravallicounty.gov/137/Budgets-Financials) linking to county budget and financial-compliance documents, but its document links are loaded dynamically and a detention-specific line item could not be confirmed by directly opening a document, so 'budget' is recorded 'no' rather than assumed.
- roster is 'yes' on the strength of the 'Search Inmates and Bookings By Date and Name' link on the county's own Adult Detention Center page, which points to the Sheriff's Office booking search portal.
- Commissioners: Greg Chilcott, Dan Huls, Jeff Burrows. Three commissioners, each resident in one of three commission districts but elected county-wide, four-year staggered terms.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Ravalli 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