The Detention Center
Not found — no jail or detention department identified on the county's own site
- Operated byNot found
- Evidence of no jail'Prisoner Transports' is listed among Sheriff's Office duties, and no 'Jail' or 'Detention' department appears in the county's full department list
- Where prisoners are heldNot confirmed by any source opened during this research
- What was triedhttps://sgcountymt.gov/government-departments/county-govt/sheriff/, https://sgcountymt.gov/about/about-sweet-grass-county/, and the full county department navigation — no jail/detention page or department found
Source: Sweet Grass County MT — 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 Alan Ronneberg
- Runs the jailNo jail identified on the county's own site
- Duties listedSearch and Rescue, Criminal Investigation, General Patrol, Civil Process, Concealed Weapons Permits, Prisoner Transports, Court Security, Brand Inspections, Livestock Trip Permits
- Office founded1895
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Sweet Grass County MT — Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Montana district court judges are elected officials of the state judicial district (Sweet Grass County is part of the 6th Judicial District); Justices of the Peace are also elected and typically set bail at first appearance. Neither is a county administrative employee.
6th Judicial District Court
- Not found
Justice/City Court
- Jessie Connolly (elected Justice of the Peace; also appointed Big Timber City Judge)
- 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
- Sweet Grass County's own site does not identify a jail or detention facility. The Sheriff's Office lists 'Prisoner Transports' among its duties, implying prisoners are held elsewhere, but no source opened during this research names where. This is recorded as a genuine gap rather than assumed.
- Montana has no confirmed statutory adult jail inspection agency; state_inspection is recorded as empty for this reason, per research brief.
- Board of County Commissioners: Bill Wallace, JV Moody, Melanie Roe (Chair). Elected at large from three districts to six-year staggered terms.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Sweet Grass 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