On March 5th, 2026, KTVQ Q2 in Billings, MT, published an article about a $175,000,000 jail expansion, with a continuing jail budget of $20,000,000 a year. This would, on average, cost $65-$75 per $100,000 of house value each year. Further strangling the budgets of Yellowstone County residents who already pay enough in property taxes.

According to the Montana Legislative Biennium, this would be roughly 250-270 more beds in the Yellowstone County detention facility. The county wants to spend almost $650,000 an inmate to build a bigger jail.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the average number of people per 100,000 in jail is approximately 200. For the community of Yellowstone County, that comes out to be about 344 people. If the national average says we should be at 344 people, why are we nearly double that? I think before we make the jail continue to outgrow the community, we should work within the community to decrease the number of people in the jail.

Yellowstone County definitely has a crime problem, and I don't think anyone in their right mind would argue that Yellowstone County hasn’t felt less safe over the years. Just in the 17 years I have lived here, I have seen murders increase incredibly fast, reminding me sometimes of the more dangerous places I traveled to while in the military.

The County has needed a better response to the crime problem for a long time, but the current system of catching them, throwing them in jail, watching them bond out, committing a new offense, going back to jail, and repeating needs to end. So are the hours of inmates sitting in jail with nothing to do.

After years of working within the criminal justice, treatment, and mental health world since returning to the Yellowstone County area, the thing I know to be most true is that Yellowstone County is struggling with a mental health and drug addiction issue. We can look across the country for successful programs. Louisiana has its work release programs, helping offenders obtain careers and learn work schedules so they can begin to pay back their debts to the community while being supervised.

Fort Worth, Texas, and its successful mental health diversion and in-custody treatment. Some of the members of our community are suffering from mental health disorders , and the jail may not be the best place for them; they need more specialized medical care. If someone is going to be in jail due to addiction, they should be doing more than working on new connections to get a fix. Instead of watching soap operas, they can be engaged in treatment services.