Current Facility — Yellowstone County Detention Facility Expansion

Overview

The Facility Today

The Yellowstone County Detention Facility opened in 1986. The original rated capacity at the current facility was 174. Today, it houses more than 600 inmates.

The information below is drawn from the Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan (A&E Design / HDR, January 2025) and Sheriff's Office records.

Exterior view of the main entrance to the jail.

Capacity & Population

434

Rated Bed Capacity

The facility's rated capacity when it opened in 1986

600+

Average Daily Population

Current average daily population — more than 50% over rated capacity

The facility's average daily population has steadily exceeded its rated capacity. Population projections in the Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan run through 2049 and account for several factors that affect actual bed need: daily population peaks (when the count runs above average) and inmate classification rules that separate people by gender, security level, and other factors.

Photos

Inside the Facility

Photographs of the current facility taken in 2026, showing interior conditions, housing areas, and support spaces.

Interior of a housing pod showing rows of bunk beds along the walls, stainless steel fixtures, and visible water staining on the concrete — Housing pod interior

A mattress with orange bedding placed in a housing pod, with pod number 60 stenciled on the wall beside it — Temporary bunk — pod 60

Security body scanner and conveyor belt at the facility intake area — Intake body scanner

Small medical examination room with an exam table, medical monitoring equipment, and a cabinet — Medical exam room

Wall-mounted phones and video visitation terminals in a housing unit corridor, with peeling paint visible on the wall — Phones and video terminals

Visitation kiosks in the lobby, with plastic chairs alongside them — Visitation kiosks

Barbershop area inside the facility with a barber chair and grooming equipment — Barbershop

A metal shelf stocked with rolled orange clothing issued to inmates upon intake — Inmate clothing kits

Outdoor exercise yard viewed through a reinforced glass skylight and security grating, showing the enclosed open-air space — Outdoor exercise yard

View of the facility's brick exterior through scratched and cracked older security glass in the exercise yard — Exercise yard — aging security glass

Red classification signs reading Male and Female mounted on a worn blue metal door with a door latch visible to the right — Housing unit classification signs

View through a security window into an outdoor exercise area with an inmate in orange clothing visible. The metal window frame shows heavy paint peeling and deterioration. — Exercise yard window — paint deterioration

A mattress placed directly on a terrazzo floor with inmate clothing piled on top, its vinyl cover heavily cracked and worn — Floor mattress — cracked cover

A stack of brown institutional food trays stored beside a blue housing wing door with a handwritten inventory tag attached — Stacked food trays

A blue barred security door to a housing unit with a mop propped against the wall beside it, a security camera mounted above, and an intercom panel on the wall — Housing unit barred door

A wire rolling cart stocked with folded dark blue inmate clothing sorted into compartments with green inventory tags — Laundry cart — dark uniforms

A wire rolling cart stocked with folded orange inmate clothing sorted into compartments with green inventory tags — Laundry cart — orange uniforms

Cleaning equipment including a yellow mop bucket, orange mop, and coiled hose sitting on a heavily stained and deteriorated tile floor with failing grout — Deteriorated utility floor

Close-up of a mattress surface showing severe crazing and cracking across the vinyl cover, the result of heavy use and years of age — Cracked mattress surface

A stack of worn multicolored plastic meal trays in faded colors beside a security door, with one tray in the foreground holding a portioned meal — Meal tray with portioned meal

A housing pod common area with round tables and white plastic chairs viewed through security wire mesh glass, with wall-mounted fluorescent lights — Pod common area

Interior of an occupied housing pod showing bunk beds with blue mattresses along the walls, personal items on bunks, orange cups on a central round table, and white plastic chairs — Active housing pod interior

A row of stainless steel pod sinks mounted along a wall showing severe water staining, peeling paint, and concrete deterioration, with handset phones visible at the end — Pod sinks — water damage

An unoccupied plastic temporary bunk platform placed on the tiled floor of a housing pod, with chairs and orange-uniformed inmates visible in the background — Temporary bunk — unoccupied

A multipurpose room with mixed tile and carpet flooring, folding chairs, a television, and cleaning equipment stored along the walls — Program room

A blue barred security gate standing open in a facility corridor, with a broom visible beyond it, an exit sign on the left wall, and a transition from tile to bare concrete flooring — Security gate — facility corridor

A tiled shower and utility area with a floor drain, cleaning equipment including mops and buckets, and stained concrete surfaces showing age and heavy wear — Shower and utility area

Entry door to the North 1 housing wing, a large blue metal security door with multiple security windows and North 1 stenciled on the floor beside it — North 1 housing wing door

Entry door to the West 1 housing wing, a large blue metal security door with multiple security windows and West 1 labeled on the door and stenciled on the concrete wall beside it — West 1 housing wing door

Facility Condition

As part of the Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan, the project team completed a Facilities Condition Assessment (FCA) of the existing building. The FCA evaluates the major systems including plumbing, electrical, mechanical, life safety, and code compliance and identifies issues that need attention.

$9.5M

High-Priority Deferred Maintenance

Aging plumbing, electrical, and mechanical systems
Life safety and code-compliance deficiencies
ADA accessibility issues throughout the facility
Medical care delivery space limitations (ACA compliance)

Staffing the Facility

The facility currently operates with 111.5 full-time equivalent employees (FTE) — well below what is needed to safely serve the current population. The Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan identifies 243 FTE as the recommended staffing level. Under a minimum-staffing scenario, 157 FTE can operate the facility using overtime.

111.5

Current FTE

243

Recommended FTE

Operational Impact

How Capacity Affects Operations

When a detention facility operates above its design capacity, daily operations are affected in measurable ways. The following operational impacts are documented in the Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan and supported by Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office records.

Classification Limitations

Separating inmates by gender, security level, and treatment needs becomes harder as available beds shrink. The Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan applies a 15% classification factor to bed-need calculations to reflect this reality.

Program and Service Space

Spaces originally designed for programs, attorney visits, and support services are sometimes used to house inmates. This reduces the space available for medical care, mental health services, and rehabilitation programs.

Maintenance Pressure

Continuous high occupancy makes it harder to take housing areas offline for routine maintenance and repairs, contributing to the deferred maintenance backlog.

Resources

Read the Source Documents

The information on this page is drawn from publicly available studies and county records. Read the full source material below.

Jail Needs Assessment Master Plan

A&E Design / HDR, January 2025. The comprehensive study of current conditions, population projections, and recommended facility improvements.

Download Jail Needs Assessment (PDF)

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