1. Call the Sheriff's Office in Red Lodge at 406-446-1234. County dispatch answers this line.
2. Ask which jail has the person and how to reach it.
3. If the answer is Billings, look them up on the inmate search or ring booking at 406-256-6881.
4. If it is another jail, use the jail list on this page.
5. Write down any booking or jacket number you are given. Staff can find a person faster with it.

The Sheriff's Office is at 102 Broadway Avenue North, Red Lodge, MT 59068. County offices are open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except legal holidays.

The search lists people being held right now at the Billings jail. To use it:

1. Open the Yellowstone County inmate search.
2. Type the name as last name, comma, first name, like "Doe, John."
3. Or search by booking date if you know the day of the arrest.
4. Answer the short math question the site uses as a security check.
5. To scan everyone, press the "View Full Jail Roster" button.

The jail says its list reflects the most current custody data it has. It covers everyone held in Billings, not just people from this county, so match a birth date or middle name before you trust a result.

A blank result can mean several things:

• Another jail. The person may be in Bozeman, Townsend, Forsyth or somewhere else.
• Still on the road. Deputies drive people out of the county, so booking can take a while.
• Already released. Someone may have paid bail, or the judge let them go.
• Spelling. Try another spelling, a middle name, or a name from before a marriage.
• Under 18. Youths go to a youth center, not an adult jail.

When in doubt, the Sheriff's Office at 406-446-1234 is the place to ask.

Besides Billings, the county has housed people in Bozeman, Townsend and Forsyth since 2001. Nearby counties run jails too. Call any of these with the full name and birth date:

• Yellowstone County Detention Facility, 3165 King Avenue East, Billings, MT 59101, booking 406-256-6881, office line 406-256-6900
• Gallatin County Detention Center, 605 S. 16th Ave, Bozeman, MT 59715, 406-582-2130
• Broadwater County Detention Center, 519 Broadway St, Townsend, MT 59644, 406-266-3441
• Rosebud County jail, run by the Rosebud Sheriff at 180 S 13th Ave, Forsyth, MT 59327, 406-346-2715
• Park County Detention Center, 414 E. Callender St., Livingston, MT 59047, 406-222-4178, staffed around the clock
• Big Horn County Detention Center, 121 3rd St W, Hardin, MT 59034, 406-665-9792

Stillwater County, next door, also sends its prisoners to Billings.

Fresh bookings can lag behind. If the arrest was in the last few hours, call county dispatch at 406-446-1234. Ask whether the person was taken into custody, which agency made the arrest, and where they were taken. The Billings search also lets you pull up everyone booked on a certain date, which helps when you know the day but not the spelling.

The Sheriff's Office or the jail can read you each charge and its law number. To read the law itself, look up the number on the state's free Montana Code Annotated website.

Once charges are filed, the court file lists them in full. Search misdemeanors on the limited court portal. Search felonies on the District Court portal. Which charges go forward is up to the County Attorney's Office, 102 Broadway Avenue North, Red Lodge, MT 59068, 406-446-3300.

Under Montana law, booking photos, first arrest records, bail records and daily jail rosters are public criminal justice information (MCA 44-5-103). Sharing it is not restricted (MCA 44-5-301).

• For a local arrest, fill out the Sheriff's Office records request form, or call 406-446-1234 to ask how to send it.
• For a statewide criminal history, the Department of Justice runs a $20 name search through its criminal background check page. You need the full name and full birth date.
• Photos taken by immigration officials have to be requested from ICE through its records request page.

Release is decided when the person first sees a judge. For most county charges, that is Justice Court, 102 Broadway Avenue North, Red Lodge, MT 59068, 406-446-1440. Money bail is still used in Montana. Even so, the law points the judge to the mildest rules that will work.

• Many misdemeanors start from a dollar figure in the state's recommended bond schedule.
• Felonies show "NO BOND" on that schedule, so the judge names a figure.
• With partner and family assault charges, the person sees a judge before any release.
• If the hold is another county's or state's warrant, judges here have no power to bail the person out (MCA 46-9-201).
• The Sheriff's Community Corrections program, 406-445-7256, can supervise people at home with GPS or alcohol testing.

Our bail page goes deeper into amounts, payment and bondsmen.

Judges must explain the right to counsel when the person first appears. Montana's Office of State Public Defender defends people facing felonies, youth charges, or a misdemeanor that could bring jail.

• Billings office: 207 N. Broadway, Suite 201, Billings, MT 59101, 406-256-6861
• Apply at advopd.mt.gov. Recent pay stubs and bank statements help the application.

A private lawyer is another option. Ask them how attorney visits work at the jail where the person is held.

Timing depends on the court and the jail. At the Billings jail, people are released from the main lobby, and the jail says most new arrivals are classified within 24 to 48 hours. Under the 2025 contract, that jail's custody ended when the person was handed back to this county's Sheriff's Office, and county deputies did the driving. Call the Sheriff's Office at 406-446-1234 to ask whether your loved one will be freed in Billings or brought back to the county first, and when to be there.

The jail keeps whatever the person had on them when booked, until they leave. In Billings, property is handed back at the Booking Window. Before you drive over, call booking at 406-256-6881. Ask when the window is open and whether you need written permission from the person to collect their things. Bring photo ID. For money left on their account, see our inmate money page.

These are Yellowstone County's rules for its own jail. Other jails set their own, so call ahead if the person is held somewhere else.

• In-person visits are on hold, and the jail does not expect them back soon because of staffing and security.
• Each inmate gets two free remote video visits per week.
• Visits are booked through the jail's video visit provider, using a smartphone, a computer with a webcam, or the lobby kiosk.
• Visits start once the person moves into a housing unit, and they can be canceled for jail operations or emergencies.
• Clergy need the chaplain's approval ahead of time, and the inmate must ask for the visit.

Our visiting guide has general tips for jail visits.

The Billings jail uses two kinds of accounts. These are that jail's own rules:

• Trust account for commissary. Deposit online through the jail's commissary provider or at the Blue Kiosk in the lobby. Both charge fees.
• Money order by mail. Make it payable to the inmate's full name. Address it with that name, the jacket number and "ATTENTION MAIL OFFICER," to 3165 King Ave E, Billings, MT 59101. Mail missing the "Attention Mail Officer" line is returned. Money orders and cashier's checks work best. Personal checks are refused, and cash should never be mailed.
• Communications account for calls, video visits and messages. Family can fund it online through the jail's phone provider or by calling 800-943-2189. An inmate can move trust money into it, but not back out.

Our money guide and commissary guide explain how these accounts get used.

At the Billings jail, inmates make calls, join video visits and send messages on tablets or kiosks. Right after booking, new arrivals can use booking phones to reach family. Messages from outside are passed along only for real emergencies that staff can verify. Calls and messages are paid from the communications account, which family can fund at 800-943-2189.

Save details about the case for conversations with the lawyer. Read our phone call guide, and for texts and email, our inmate email page.

Mail rules belong to whichever jail holds the person. In Billings, Yellowstone County sends personal mail to a scanning company in Texas, which delivers it to the inmate on screen and destroys the paper. Address personal letters this way:

Inmate Name, Inmate Jacket Number
Yellowstone Co. Detention Facility
P.O. Box 591
Long View, Texas 75606

• Send no more than 5 pages, written on one side only, on paper up to letter size (8.5 x 11 inches).
• Include one photo per letter at most. Books, magazines and packages are not accepted.
• Legal mail must come straight from a lawyer or a court, be marked "LEGAL MAIL," show a return address with a phone number, and go to 3165 King Ave E, Billings, MT 59101.

Get the jacket number from the jail. Our mail guide covers general tips.

At the Billings jail, the Medical Room answers at 406-256-6997. Call there about an illness, an injury or a missed prescription. Be ready with the medicine's name, how much they take and who prescribed it. The jail accepts prescription glasses sent in for an inmate, but it refuses medications. Under the 2025 contract, this county paid for its inmates' care beyond routine treatment and drove them to outside appointments. Mention any mental health worry right away.

Start with the Sheriff's Office warrant lookup, which the county's Sheriff page links to. The state's offender search shows people wanted by the Department of Corrections after an escape or after slipping out of probation or parole supervision. Open cases turn up by name in the court portals for limited courts and District Court. For a firm answer, phone dispatch at 406-446-1234. In Bridger, the town police are at 406-662-3116. If there is a warrant, get a lawyer's advice before doing anything else. The lawyer can help arrange a surrender or a new court date.

Each court sets its own hearing dates:

• Justice Court, 102 Broadway Avenue North, Red Lodge, MT 59068, 406-446-1440. Its weekly calendar lists coming settings.
• Clerk of District Court, same building, 406-446-1225, with its own weekly District Court calendar.
• Town courts: Red Lodge 406-446-4727, Bridger 406-662-1042, Fromberg 406-668-7363, Joliet 406-962-3133. Bearcreek uses the Justice Court line.

The state court portals can also be searched by name. Our court page explains each stage of a case.

• VINE, a free service run with the Department of Corrections, can call, text or email you about an adult felony offender the department supervises. Register on VINELink or call 800-456-3076 any time. You have to sign up yourself.
• Victims. In partner assault, stalking and similar cases, the jail has to warn the alleged victim soon after the accused makes bail (MCA 46-9-108).
• For everyone else, check the inmate search each day and call the jail holding the person.

1. Federal charges here are filed in Billings at the U.S. District Court, 2601 2nd Avenue North, Suite 1200, Billings, MT 59101, 406-247-7000.
2. A federal judge settles detention or release at the first hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
3. To learn where a federal prisoner is being kept, ask the U.S. Marshals Service in Billings at 406-200-6004.
4. The case file is on PACER.
5. After sentencing, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator with a name or register number.

1. The jail receives an ICE detainer on Form I-247A.
2. The jail may hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. Montana officers must honor it unless the person proves citizenship or lawful status with credible papers (MCA 27-16-801).
3. ICE then takes custody. Its Salt Lake City Field Office handles Montana, 801-736-1200, and the agency also has a Billings check-in office for this area, 406-247-4083.
4. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator using the A-number, or the name plus country of birth. If nothing turns up, the field office is your next call.

After a state felony sentence, the person often stays in a county jail until the Department of Corrections finishes its assessment. They may already be listed in the state search while waiting.

• Search the Montana offender search with a name, an alias or a DOC ID. It lists where they are held and their custody status.
• For visiting and mail at each facility, read our Montana state prisons guide.
• The department's main office in Helena: 406-444-3930.

Montana law keeps youths out of adult jails except for short stays. Youths from this region may be held at the Ted Lechner Youth Services Center, 410 South 26th Street, Billings, MT 59101, 406-256-6825. The judge must hold a hearing within 24 hours for a detained youth, and the clock pauses on weekends and holidays (MCA 41-5-332).

• Detention visits are Wednesdays and Sundays from 2:00 to 4:20 p.m., 15 minutes each, for approved visitors with valid ID. Book a time at the center's number.
• Free recorded video visits are offered too.
• Youth Court files stay private and are kept off the public portals.
• The district's juvenile probation office in Hardin, 406-665-9785, can explain the next steps.

The agency that made the arrest can tell you about it. Census Bureau figures put the county at 11,466 residents as of July 1, 2025.

• Sheriff's Office, 102 Broadway Avenue North, Red Lodge, MT 59068, dispatch 406-446-1234. Deputies cover the countryside and, by contract, the town of Fromberg.
• Red Lodge Police Department, 1 South Platt St., Red Lodge, MT 59068, reached through county dispatch
• Bridger Police Department, Town Hall, 108 S. D Street, Bridger, MT 59014, 406-662-3116
• Joliet Police Department, 116 South Main St., Joliet, MT 59041, 406-962-3133
• Montana Highway Patrol, 18 Trooper Drive, Boulder, MT 59632, 24-hour dispatch 855-647-3777
• Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game wardens, whose tickets go to the County Attorney
• DUI Task Force, a partnership that includes the Sheriff's Office and Red Lodge police, 406-445-7291