The Montgomery County Jail is at 105 Highway 270 East, Mount Ida, AR 71957. If it's full, the sheriff sends people to contract jails.

Montgomery County keeps no public roster online. Montgomery County on VINELink is the free Montgomery lookup to use.

Montgomery County on VINELink uses the statewide notification lookup, which may show the jail holding the person. Call the sheriff to be sure.

Arkansas requires a judge's cause ruling on a warrantless arrest within 48 hours.

Misdemeanors stay in Mount Ida District Court. Felony cases are tried before the Montgomery County circuit judge. See court info.

Bond is paid wherever the Mount Ida sheriff says, which could be a contract jail. A full cash bond is refunded after the case if all dates are met; a licensed bondsman keeps up to ten percent. See bail.

A Mount Ida judge can appoint the public defender for someone without money for a lawyer.

Montgomery County's tiny Mount Ida jail often boards inmates in Garland, Polk or other counties, and each jail sets its own visiting rules. Visiting depends on where the person is housed. Call the sheriff first. See visits and remote visits.

Whichever lockup houses them sets the phone rules, and relatives normally fund a prepaid account through that facility's phone company. See phones, messages, tablets.

Put deposits on the account at the facility that actually has them, not Mount Ida if they were moved. See deposits and commissary.

A letter mailed to Mount Ida may not reach someone moved elsewhere, so check the location first. See mail.

Montgomery County youth go before the juvenile judge; deputies can say which center holds them.

Tell the sheriff about medicines or health risks so the holding jail is informed.

With only 12 beds, Montgomery County moves people often, and the sheriff's desk keeps track of where. Phone 870-867-3151 for the holding location and the amount of bond.

Federal cases start with officers from the FBI, the Marshals Service, the ATF, and Homeland Security Investigations. Mount Ida is in the Western District of Arkansas, Hot Springs Division; hearings take place in Hot Springs, 100 Reserve Street, Room 347, Hot Springs, AR 71901. No clerk works in Hot Springs; dial the Western District clerk, 833-853-0345, instead. An initial hearing happens fast with a federal magistrate judge. Nobody uses a bail chart for federal charges. A short hearing settles detention or release, under the Bail Reform Act. Ahead of the hearing, an officer from pretrial services asks about their job, family and record.

Before trial, the Marshals may hold them in the Mount Ida jail through a contract. Search the sheriff's roster first, where the hold may be noted. The Marshals Service office that serves this area sits at 30 South 6th Street, Room 243, Fort Smith, AR 72901. Phone 479-289-7470 or 479-424-5000 (call either) to find a federal prisoner. After a federal sentence, the person moves into BOP custody, often weeks later. Find the person on the federal inmate locator.

• Jail prints are checked against federal systems that ICE reviews. ICE may then place a detainer.
• The Mount Ida jail are asked to hold off on the release as long as 48 hours to give ICE a chance to arrive. A holiday doesn't pause the count.
• Posting bond does not lift the detainer.
• Within the hold, ICE may come to pick them up. Deadline passed? Then the detainer lapses and the jail should release them.
• To reach the New Orleans field office of ICE at 181 James Drive W, St. Rose, LA 70087, tel. 504-318-2360.
• Look up them at the ICE detainee locator after the pickup, using the A-number with birth country. The locator works too by first and last name, DOB and native country when there's no A-number.
• ICE itself picks the next facility.

Arkansas's prison system, the ADC, houses those given prison time. They wait in the Mount Ida jail for a state transfer. The trip ends at reception, where new arrivals are processed. There, staff look at gang ties, how much security they need, and their medical and mental health. Finally, they are sent to a unit that fits that rating.

For their unit, check the ADC online search. The state prison guide lists every state unit.

The sheriff's office at 870-867-3151 fields media requests for mugshots that aren't public. Immigration photos come out only through ICE's online FOIA request, with no promise the agency will agree. Families and reporters can't see federal booking photos. The U.S. Marshals Service, which takes these photos, releases one only in narrow cases: for a fugitive or escapee, when the public need to be warned right away or to help an arrest or alert people.

• Mount Ida, Norman, Oden and rural arrests: Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, 870-867-3151
• Lake Ouachita area: Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, same number