With only a handful of beds, this jail is easy to check by phone. Work through these steps:

1. Type the name into the inmate lookup and note what comes back.
2. Either way, phone the Sheriff's Office at 406-271-4060.
3. Say the legal name, then list nicknames and old last names. Add the birth date.
4. Ask three things: Is the person booked? On what charges? Has bail been set?
5. Jot down the booking number if staff read it out. Bail, letters and deposits move faster with it.

Some details stay private over the phone. Even so, staff can usually tell you if the person is inside.

An empty result doesn't prove your loved one went home. Think through these possibilities:

• Still being booked. Prints, photos and forms eat up time after an arrest.
• Released. Bail may be paid already, or a judge let them go on a promise.
• Transferred. A move to another county, a state facility or a federal hold is possible.
• Spelled another way. The booking could be filed under a middle name, a name from before marriage, or a typo.
• Held by tribal or federal officers. Arrests on the Blackfeet Reservation can follow a different path.
• Younger than 18. Teens never stay in the adult jail.

The quickest fix for any of these is a call to 406-271-4060.

Adults from this county are kept in Conrad. A stop close to a county line, though, can put someone in a neighbor's lockup. If the Sheriff's Office has no record, try these:

• Glacier County jail in Cut Bank, 406-873-2711, option 2
• Toole County jail, PO Box 550, Shelby, MT 59474, 406-434-5585
• Teton County Sheriff's Office, 26 First Street SE, Choteau, MT 59422, 406-466-5781, staffed 24 hours
• Liberty County Sheriff's Office, 111.5 East Adams Ave., Chester, MT 59522, 406-759-5171
• Chouteau County Detention Center, 1215 Washington St, Fort Benton, MT 59442, 406-622-3660
• Cascade County Detention Facility, 3800 Ulm N Frontage Rd, Great Falls, MT 59404, Sheriff 406-454-6820
• Flathead County Detention Center, 920 South Main, Suite 100, Kalispell, MT 59901, 406-758-5617

Tiny by city standards. In a March 2022 table sent to state lawmakers, the Sheriff's Office reported 13 beds and a daily count under 13. The cells are on the courthouse's lower level, well below the courtrooms on the top floor.

With so little room, calls in the morning tend to go best. Ask what your loved one needs and whether staff will accept anything you drop off.

Yes. Under Montana's criminal justice records law, mugshots, bail records and daily jail rosters are open to the public (MCA 44-5-103). The Sheriff's Office at 406-271-4060 can explain how to ask for a mugshot and any cost.

• For a photo taken by immigration agents, use the ICE records request page.
• Federal mugshots mostly stay sealed. Now and then the U.S. Marshals put one out while hunting for a fugitive.

Not automatically. For someone in the Conrad jail, a phone call is still the most reliable alert. Call 406-271-4060 and ask again each day.

• VINE is a free alert line run for the state. Its alerts track adult felony offenders under state corrections, such as prisoners and parolees. Enroll on VINELink or by dialing 800-456-3076. Nobody is enrolled for you.
• Alleged victims get special notice in four kinds of cases: partner assault, strangling, stalking and protection order violations. Once the accused bails out, the jail must contact that victim as soon as it can (MCA 46-9-108).

The judge at the first hearing. That is normally the Justice Court on the courthouse's top floor, 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 311, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-271-4030. This judge also sits for the city courts of Conrad and Valier. Release might come with a promise, a list of rules, cash or a bond.

• A statewide bond schedule suggests amounts for lots of misdemeanors.
• For a felony, the judge picks the figure.
• Partner and family assault cases need the judge's review before bail.
• When another county or state issued the warrant, bail on it is out of the Conrad judge's hands.

Dollar figures, payment tips and advice on bondsmen fill our bail page.

Start by asking the Sheriff's Office. Each charge usually carries a Montana code number, like 45-6-301, the theft law. Read the text of any law on the state's Montana Code Annotated website.

When a case is filed, its record goes online. Look for a misdemeanor on the limited court portal. A felony will be on the District Court portal. The final say on charges belongs to the County Attorney, 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 315, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-271-4050.

The judge covers this at the first hearing, including how to get a lawyer for free. Appointed lawyers in Montana handle felonies and youth cases. Misdemeanors qualify too, as long as jail is a possible sentence.

• Closest office: the Region 2 office in Great Falls, 615 2nd Ave. N., Great Falls, MT 59403, 406-770-3200
• The application lives at advopd.mt.gov. Scan or photograph recent pay stubs and bank statements to upload.

Hiring a private attorney is also an option. Check with the jail on how attorney visits and calls get arranged.

Phone 406-271-4060 first, since a small jail can change its plans quickly. Questions worth asking:

• On what days and at what hours do visits take place?
• Do I need to book a slot, or be put on a visitor list?
• How many people may come at once? Are kids allowed?
• Which ID do I need, and what has to stay in my vehicle?
• Is there a video visit option?

Wear simple clothes and get there with time to spare. Our visiting guide has more pointers.

Usually a jail account covers commissary items like soap and chips, plus phone time. To set up a deposit, phone 406-271-4060. Ask how money gets onto the account, which payments are taken and if there is a cap. Have the full name and booking number handy.

Our money guide explains typical deposit options. The commissary guide lists the kinds of items jails sell. Mailing cash invites trouble.

Each jail picks its own phone setup. Ask at 406-271-4060 how a family signs up to take calls, the price per call, and whether a tablet or message service is in use. Expect every call to be recorded unless it is with a lawyer.

Save case talk for the attorney. Our jail phone guide walks through common calling systems, and our guide to inmate email covers messaging.

Before you write, call 406-271-4060 to confirm the right address for inmate mail and whether a booking number belongs on it. The county itself takes mail at 20 4th Avenue SW, Conrad, MT 59425, but let jail staff confirm that for letters to a prisoner. Also ask whether photos, books or magazines are allowed.

On the envelope, put the prisoner's full legal name. Your return address belongs in the top corner. General mail rules are in our mail guide. Leave cash out.

Anything taken at booking stays in jail storage until the person is released. For a pickup, phone 406-271-4060 in office hours and ask if your loved one first has to sign off. Then bring photo ID to the Sheriff's Office, Suite 109, in the courthouse basement.

Tell the Sheriff's Office at 406-271-4060 as soon as you can. Share the medicine's name, the dose and the doctor's number.

Under a county resolution, inmates owe the real cost of their medicine, doctor visits and hospital care while in custody. If someone's life is at risk, call 911. Worried about suicide or a breakdown? Use those words when you call the jail. The Center for Mental Health keeps a Conrad office at 514 S Front St #1, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-278-3205.

Deputies serve warrants in every corner of the county. To check on one, call the Sheriff's Office at 406-271-4060. Conrad's police officers are based at City Hall, 413 South Main Street, Conrad, MT 59425. Escapees and probation or parole absconders the state is hunting carry a wanted status on the Montana offender search. Open misdemeanor cases show up by name on the free state limited court portal. Felony ones appear on the District Court portal. Before acting on a warrant, get a lawyer's view. The person may then turn themselves in at the jail in Suite 109. Some instead ask the issuing court to reset the hearing. The district court clerk answers felony warrant questions too, 406-271-4026.

Each court keeps its own calendar. Phone the one handling the case:

• Justice Court, which also keeps the Conrad and Valier town court calendars: 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 311, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-271-4030
• Clerk of District Court, which schedules felonies: 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 301, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-271-4026

A name search on either free state court portal may also show it. Every stage is explained in our court guide.

This county's federal cases are filed in the Great Falls Division. Hearings take place in Great Falls, inside the Missouri River Federal Courthouse, 125 Central Avenue West, Suite 110, Great Falls, MT 59404, 406-727-1922.

1. Federal judges settle detention right away. At that first court date, the judge rules on home release versus a cell until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Before trial, federal prisoners stay with the U.S. Marshals Service. To ask which jail has them, call the Billings headquarters at 406-200-6004.
3. Read the court file on PACER.
4. After a prison sentence, look for them on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Expect a detainer case in Conrad to go roughly in this order:

1. The jail receives an ICE detainer, Form I-247A.
2. Conrad jailers may then keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. State law says officers must honor the request. The one exception is when believable papers prove citizenship or lawful status (MCA 27-16-801).
3. Agents pick the person up, and the Salt Lake City Field Office takes charge, 2975 Decker Lake Drive, Suite 100, West Valley City, UT 84119, 801-736-1200.
4. Enter the full name and birth country, or the A-number, into the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

A state felony sentence rarely means an instant transfer. The person often waits in Conrad while Department of Corrections staff size up their needs. Their name can appear on the state search even during that stretch.

• Enter a name, or the DOC ID if you have it, on the Montana offender search.
• Each prison's own visiting and mail rules are laid out in our Montana state prisons guide.
• Questions for DOC itself go to its Helena office, 406-444-3930.

Never to the adult jail. A teen who has to be held goes to a regional center in Great Falls. It is the Cascade County Juvenile Detention Center, 1600 26th Street S, Great Falls, MT 59405, 406-454-6930. The case belongs to Youth Court, whose files never show on the public portals. Inside a day of the teen's detention, leaving out weekends and holidays, a probable cause hearing has to take place (MCA 41-5-332).

For updates and hearing dates, phone juvenile probation in Suite 309 of the courthouse, 406-271-4035, on a Monday or Wednesday.

The county's northwest corner, including Heart Butte, lies within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. On that land, police work is done by Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement, based at 1204 SW Boundary St., Browning, MT 59417. Phone 406-338-4000 to learn which agency arrested the person and where they were taken.

The Blackfeet Nation has a tribal court. A case could go there, to a state court or to federal court, depending on the facts. If a county deputy made the arrest, the Sheriff's Office is your contact instead.

The jail can say which agency brought the person in. About 6,072 people live in the county, says a Census Bureau estimate for mid-2025. Agencies that police this area:

• Pondera County Sheriff's Office, 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 109, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-271-4060. Deputies cover the countryside, including Brady, Dupuyer and Ledger, and police Valier under a contract with the town.
• Conrad Police Department, City Hall, 413 South Main Street, Conrad, MT 59425. The county's dispatch center sends out its officers, and you can reach dispatch at the Sheriff's number above.
• Town of Valier offices, 514 Montana Street, Valier, MT 59486, 406-279-3721
• Montana Highway Patrol, 18 Trooper Drive, Boulder, MT 59632, 24-hour dispatch 855-647-3777
• BIA Law Enforcement for the Blackfeet Reservation, 1204 SW Boundary St., Browning, MT 59417, 406-338-4000