The Detention Center
Toole County Jail
- Operated byToole County Sheriff's Office
- Address235 Deer Lodge Avenue, PO Box 550, Shelby, MT 59474
- Detention OfficersHarley McCuin, James Knickerbocker, Mark Clark, Ethan Collins (per the Sheriff's Office staff page)
- What was triedChecked https://toolecountymt.gov/sheriffs-office/, https://toolecountymt.gov/county-directory/, and https://toolecountymt.gov/department-of-public-safety/ for beds, year built, cost, budget, roster, PREA, inspections, deaths — none published on the county's own site
Source: Montana Judicial Branch Resource Guide (Toole County) · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗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 McDonough
- TitleSheriff
- UndersheriffTyler Foss
- How the office is filledElected
- Runs the jailYes — Toole County Jail, operated by the Sheriff's Office; the Sheriff's Office page lists Detention Officers on staff
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Toole County Government · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
Montana district court judges and justices of the peace/city judges are elected. The Justice of the Peace typically sets bail at first appearance. Both are state judicial officers under the Montana judicial branch (MCA Title 3), not county officials.
- 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
- Toole County's own site (toolecountymt.gov) names the Sheriff's Office and lists Detention Officers on staff, confirming a jail exists, but publishes no jail-specific page, bed count, budget, roster link, PREA information, inspection result, or death-in-custody information.
- The Toole County Department of Public Safety is described on the county's own site as 'a consolidated city and county law enforcement organization' overseen by a joint city/county Public Safety Commission, but the Sheriff remains the elected official who runs the jail; this is not an appointed-director arrangement like Denver, Broomfield, or Bernalillo.
- Montana has no confirmed statutory adult jail inspection agency; state_inspection is recorded as empty per the research brief.
- Board of County Commissioners: Terry Tomsheck (District 1), Mary Ann Harwood (District 2), Terry Kimmet (District 3).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Toole 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