The jail is small. A 2022 report to the Legislature listed 34 beds. Use the roster like this:

1. Open the jail roster on a phone or computer.
2. Type or scan for the last name. Try a middle name or other spellings too.
3. Write down anything that names the booking, such as a number, a date or a charge.
4. Call the jail to confirm before you drive anywhere or send money.

Staff at 406-665-9792 can tell you whether a person is booked. The Sheriff's Office, open 24 hours, is at 406-665-9780.

A missing name has a handful of usual causes:

• Booked minutes ago. Intake takes a while, and the list can lag behind.
• Already gone. A judge may have released them, or bail was paid.
• Housed in Billings. Under the 2026 agreement, some adults stay at the Yellowstone County jail.
• Held by a tribe or the federal government. Tribal and federal arrests can lead to a different lockup.
• A different spelling. Search again with a short form of the first name, a hyphenated surname or a name from before marriage.
• A minor. People under 18 don't stay in the adult jail.

The quickest answer comes from a call to the Detention Center at 406-665-9792.

Yes. For all of 2026, Yellowstone County has agreed to house adult inmates for Big Horn County at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, 3165 King Avenue East, Billings, MT 59101. The county pays a daily rate and drives its own inmates there and back.

• Booking staff in Billings answer around the clock at 406-256-6881.
• Jail administration is at 406-256-6900, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• The case still belongs to the courts in Hardin, so bail and court dates go through them.

Start with the jail in Hardin at 406-665-9792. Staff won't share when a person will be moved, since transport details are kept private for safety.

The Crow Reservation, the biggest in Montana, and part of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation lie in this county. Officers there include Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) police and Crow Tribal Police. A tribal member arrested on reservation land usually faces tribal court, so they may be held under tribal or BIA authority instead of in the county jail.

• BIA Crow Agency: Weaver Drive, BIA Building 2, Crow Agency, MT 59022, 406-638-2672
• Crow Tribal Court: 409 Makawasha Lane, Crow Agency, MT 59022, 406-638-7400
• BIA Law Enforcement Center for the Northern Cheyenne Reservation: 119 and 120 Sunbear Street, Lame Deer, MT 59043, 406-477-6289
• Northern Cheyenne Tribal Court in Lame Deer: 406-477-8340

Ask for the person by full name and date of birth, and ask which court has the case.

Arrests close to a border with a neighbor county sometimes end up at one of these:

• Rosebud County Detention Center, 180 S 13th Ave, Forsyth, MT 59327, 406-346-2715. A recent Rosebud jail list showed someone held for this county.
• Powder River County jail, 119 North Park Avenue, Broadus, MT 59317, 406-436-2333
• Yellowstone County Detention Facility in Billings, booking 406-256-6881

Ask each jail for the person by full name and date of birth.

Under state law, mugshots, bail papers and the daily jail count are open to the public (MCA 44-5-103). A request for a mugshot goes to the Sheriff's Office, 406-665-9780.

• For a picture taken by immigration officers, file through the ICE records request page.

For someone in the Hardin jail, the most reliable way is to phone the Detention Center at 406-665-9792 and to check the roster often.

• VINE is free and runs at all hours. The county's victim program describes it as a service that calls victims when an offender leaves a Montana jail. The state says it covers adult felony offenders under its supervision. You have to register, either on VINELink or by phone at 800-456-3076.
• Victims in certain cases get a heads-up. In partner assault, strangling, stalking or protection order cases, the jail must quickly warn the victim of a bail release (MCA 46-9-108).
• The county's Victim Assistance Program, 406-665-9727, can help a victim plan for a release.

At the first hearing, a judge decides release. Most cases start in the Justice Court, 121 3rd Street West, Room 210, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9760. Montana still uses money bail, but the judge has to choose the lightest rules that will bring the person back.

• On weekdays the court for that offense takes bail. Nights and weekends, the jail does.
• The county lists cash, a certified check made out to the charging court, or a bond company.
• Assault on a partner or family member always goes to a judge before release.
• Someone held on a warrant from another county or state can't get bail from a local judge.

Read our bail page for amounts, payments and bond agents.

Ask the Detention Center for the charge and the court that has it. Then look up the law itself on the free Montana Code Annotated site. For example, 45-6-301 is theft.

Once the case is filed, search the limited jurisdiction portal for a misdemeanor or the District Court portal for a felony. The final charges are chosen by the County Attorney's Office, 121 W. 3rd Street, Room 224, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9720.

Can't pay for defense? The state may appoint one. The judge goes over how to apply during the first court date. The state office takes felonies, youth cases and any charge that could mean jail.

• Regional office: 207 N. Broadway, Suite 201, Billings, MT 59101, 406-256-6861
• Online form: advopd.mt.gov. Have a few weeks of paychecks and bank records ready.

Family members can also hire a private lawyer. A tribal court case may have its own rules for lawyers, so ask that court's clerk.

Visits happen on weekends and must be booked ahead:

• Women in custody: Saturday and Sunday, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
• Men in custody: Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.
• Call the Detention Center at 406-665-9792 on a Friday to set a time.
• Bring ID. You must be there at the time you booked.
• Loud or rude behavior by anyone can end the visit, and the visitor may be banned from the property.

More visiting tips are on our visitation page.

Commissary lets people in good standing buy extras with money from family or friends. Deposits at this jail take cash only, and you can drop them off at the Detention Center at any time. To reach Friday's commissary order, get the cash in by Wednesday at noon.

Questions about a balance go to 406-665-9792. Our money page and our commissary page say more.

People in the jail can make calls out, but they can't take incoming calls. Staff will not pass along messages unless it is a true emergency they can check, like a death in the family or emergency surgery.

For questions about phones, call the Detention Center at 406-665-9792. Calls may not be private, so save case details for the defense lawyer. Our phone guide and our email and text guide explain the usual options at jails.

Write the person's full name, then "c/o Detention, Box 908, Hardin, MT 59034." Put your own first and last name and return address on the envelope. Letters can't be dropped off in person.

• Allowed: letters, cards and photographs
• Not allowed: Polaroids, newspaper clippings, drawings, stickers, glitter, musical cards, or anything written in crayon or marker
• Packages sent by mail are turned away, and every item is searched
• Legal papers from a lawyer or court are allowed if they have no staples

See our inmate mail guide for general tips. Never put cash in a letter.

The jail's approved list, dated December 2021, allows:

• stamps and envelopes, loose-leaf writing paper, and legal papers with no staples
• up to 3 paperback religious books and up to 5 pictures
• glasses, contact lenses and solution
• prescribed medicine only, with no over-the-counter drugs, and vitamins or melatonin in sealed containers
• hair ties, sealed decks of playing cards and white undershirts without logos

Hardback books, colored pencils, magazines and coffee are refused. Books sent in become part of the jail library. The jail already gives each person a mattress, two blankets, a towel, a cup, a spork, a hygiene kit, a uniform and a bin.

What a person had on them at booking stays in storage until release. To collect it for them, call 406-665-9792 during weekday hours. Ask whether the person must sign a release slip first. Bring a photo ID to the Detention Center, 121 3rd Street West, Hardin, MT 59034.

A contracted health provider gives medical care in the jail. Staff may call family to bring in a prescribed medicine. Because of privacy law, staff won't talk about medical, dental or medicine matters over the phone.

If you have a serious worry, call the Detention Center at 406-665-9792 and say it plainly. In an emergency, call 911. The county also gives inmates a list of mental health and addiction resources and information about the H.O.P.E. Center.

Deputies answer warrant questions around the clock at 406-665-9780. In town, try Hardin police at 406-665-9268. Pending state cases appear on the limited courts portal and the District Court portal. For tribal bench warrants, check the Crow Tribal Court warrant list. A person with a warrant does best to get legal advice first. Then they may surrender at the jail, 121 3rd Street West, Hardin, MT 59034, or ask the issuing court to set a new date. The District Court clerk takes felony warrant questions at 406-665-9750.

Each court sets its own dates:

• Justice Court, 121 3rd Street West, Room 210, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9760. Criminal cases are heard weekdays at 9:00 a.m.
• Clerk of District Court, 121 3rd Street West, Room 221, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9750.
• City court, 415 N. Center Avenue, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9260, extension 111.
• Crow Tribal Court, 406-638-7400. Criminal arraignments are Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and Fridays at 10:00 a.m.

You can also look up state cases by name on the two free court portals. Our court page explains each step.

Federal charges are heard in Billings, where the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse stands at 2601 2nd Avenue North, Suite 1200, Billings, MT 59101, 406-247-7000. Major crimes on reservation land are often federal.

1. The first federal hearing includes a detention hearing, which decides jail or release until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Federal defendants waiting for trial stay in Marshals Service custody. Ask its Billings office, 406-200-6004, where they are held.
3. U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services has a Hardin office at 406-665-4210.
4. Follow the case on PACER, and after sentencing use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

When immigration agents want a person, the steps usually go like this:

1. An immigration detainer, Form I-247A, reaches the Detention Center.
2. Staff may then keep the person for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. Montana law requires officers to honor it, though anyone with credible papers showing citizenship or legal status goes free (MCA 27-16-801).
3. ICE then takes custody. This county falls under ICE's Salt Lake City Field Office, 2975 Decker Lake Drive, Suite 100, West Valley City, UT 84119, 801-736-1200, and its check-in office in Billings, 406-247-4083.
4. Look for them on the ICE Online Detainee Locator with their name and country of birth or their A-number. If nothing shows, ICE says to contact the field office.

Someone given a state felony sentence often remains in the local jail while the Department of Corrections reviews them. Even during that stretch, the state's search may list them.

• Type a name or DOC ID into the Montana offender search to see the facility and current status.
• Our Montana state prisons guide covers visits and mail at each facility.
• The Probation and Parole office for this county is reached at 406-665-9810.

Youths aren't kept in the adult jail except for a very short stay. State charges for minors go to Youth Court, which keeps its files private. Montana gives a detained youth a hearing within 24 hours, but Saturdays, Sundays and holidays are skipped (MCA 41-5-332). Tribal youth may go to tribal court, and the Crow court sets aside Mondays and Wednesdays for juvenile matters. For the youth's location and next steps, phone Juvenile Probation at 406-665-9815.

About 12,752 people live in the county (Census Bureau estimate for July 1, 2025), and about two in three are American Indian. These agencies make arrests here:

• Sheriff's Office, 121 3rd Street West, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9780, open 24 hours. Dispatch is extension 1, and Crimestoppers is 406-665-9800.
• Hardin Police Department, 415 N. Center Avenue, Suite B, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9268
• BIA and Crow Tribal Police on the Crow Reservation. The BIA agency office in Crow Agency is at 406-638-2672.
• BIA police for the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, based in Lame Deer, 406-477-6289
• Montana Highway Patrol, 18 Trooper Drive, Boulder, MT 59632, 24-hour dispatch 855-647-3777
• Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (National Park Service), 756 Battlefield Tour Road, Crow Agency, MT 59022, 406-924-9167
• Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (National Park Service), 5 Ave. B, Fort Smith, MT 59035. Call 911 to report a crime in the park.