Stillwater County Jail Inmate Bail & Bonds

Bail is always a judge's call. Under MCA 46-7-101, the closest judge on duty must see an arrested person "without unnecessary delay." Release is decided at that first hearing (MCA 46-9-109). That hearing can happen in person or on a two-way screen (MCA 46-9-206).

For most county charges, that judge is in Justice Court, up on the 4th floor of the courthouse at 400 East 3rd Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-8040. It holds first appearances on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 a.m.

Tickets from town officers may land in Columbus City Court, 408 East 1st Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-5313, ext. 200. If the case is a felony and goes on to District Court, the earlier bail carries over, though that court may adjust it (MCA 46-9-201).

The Sheriff's page says it in plain words. Stillwater prisoners stay at the Yellowstone jail "through a contract." A 2022 state count of jail beds also showed zero for the county.

• Where the person sleeps: 3165 King Avenue East, Billings, MT 59101.
• Who to call about bond: YCDF booking, 406-256-6881.
• Local office: the Sheriff's Office back home, 406-322-5326.

Plan any trip to Billings ahead of time. YCDF's rules apply for as long as your loved one stays there.

State law wants the softest terms that still bring the defendant back for every hearing (MCA 46-9-108). Choices include:

• Own recognizance. No money. The defendant signs, and the court trusts that word (MCA 46-9-111).
• Rules at home. These might bar alcohol or guns, set a curfew, require reporting to someone, or forbid contact with a named person.
• Cash deposit. Every dollar of the bail goes to the court and sits there while the case runs.
• Bail agent. A licensed company guarantees the full bail to the court. You pay it a fee.
• Land. A deed to Montana property can back the bail if the owner holds enough equity free and clear (MCA 46-9-401).
• Two people who sign. Two qualified friends or relatives can join the defendant in a written pledge.
• A driver's license. On some traffic cases, the license is held as the bail.

For felony stalking, or a second or felony partner assault, the law presumes an ankle monitor if the equipment exists.

The Montana Supreme Court's Recommended Bond Schedule is a statewide guide for justice and city courts. A judge in Columbus may go higher or lower. Surcharges owed to the state are already folded in. Here are some 2026 figures:

• Truancy: $135
• Boating while impaired: $335
• A first unlawful gambling count within 5 years: $535
• Furnishing alcohol to someone younger than 21: $535, and the defendant must appear
• Misdemeanor assault that hurts someone: $585, and the defendant must appear
• Felonies such as homicide: listed as "NO BOND," so the judge chooses

Certain charges skip the schedule entirely: stalking, attacks on a partner or relative (including strangling), and any breach of a court's protection or no-contact order. Those defendants stay put until a judge sees them (MCA 46-9-302). The Justice Court can tell you the actual figure at 406-322-8040.

YCDF says bonds are paid at the court for the place where the offense happened, during business hours. Outside those hours, the Detention Facility handles them. State law lets jail staff accept bail for a judge in two cases: the warrant names the amount, or the court's bail schedule does. Either way, you get a signed receipt (MCA 46-9-302).

1. Phone YCDF booking at 406-256-6881.
2. Spell your loved one's name, give the birth date, and ask the bail on each charge.
3. Ask if, at this hour, you should pay at the court in Columbus or at the jail in Billings.
4. Bring a photo ID.
5. Ask which payments the desk takes that day. Ask too how to fill in the payee line on a money order, and put the receipt somewhere safe.

In partner assault and protection order cases, nobody can post until the person has gone before a judge.

Yes. Under a state court rule, you can pay a bond from the schedule right at the court. Go during business hours on a regular court day. Each court has its schedule up on the office wall.

• Justice Court: 4th floor, 400 East 3rd Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019. Main line 406-322-8040, clerk 406-322-8041.
• Columbus City Court: upstairs in City Hall, 408 East 1st Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-5313, ext. 200. The clerk works Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• Clerk of District Court (felonies): 400 East 3rd Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-8030, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Before you drive over, check three things by phone: the exact sum, what kind of payment works, and how fast the court will let the Billings jail know.

Each local court links to CitePay, a card payment site. CitePay handles fines and citations only. It is not bail, and paying there will not free a prisoner.

• The Justice Court page links CitePay for tickets from deputies, troopers, Motor Carrier Services and game wardens.
• The Columbus City Court page has a "Pay Court Fees" button that goes to CitePay, which adds a 5% fee.

For bail, phone the YCDF bonding desk at 406-256-6881 or the Sheriff's Office at 406-322-5326. Never send cash in the mail.

Every office keeps its own list, so ask first. For payments it handles, Columbus City Court takes cash, checks, cashier's checks, money orders, Visa, MasterCard and Discover. For items sent to inmates, YCDF suggests cashier's checks or money orders and refuses personal checks.

For bail, the booking desk at 406-256-6881 can say what it accepts that day. Bring ID that has your photo, plus the whole bail amount. Be wary of anyone who asks for gift cards or app payments. If a stranger calls asking for money, hang up and dial the jail yourself.

On paper, a bail agent in Montana is a "surety bail bond insurance producer" (MCA 33-17-1601). The Commissioner of Securities and Insurance issues those licenses.

• The agent keeps the fee no matter how the case ends.
• Some agents want collateral, like a truck title. Ask for a written promise about its return.
• When a client skips court, an agent has the power to arrest them, usually after warning local police (MCA 46-6-508).
• The bond guarantees court dates and nothing else, so it won't pay fines or restitution (MCA 46-9-503).
• YCDF keeps a list of bail bond companies on its website.
• Confirm the license with the NAIC lookup tool before you sign.

Bail clears one case and only that case. Other things that can keep the door shut:

• Someone else's warrant. Since 2025, bail on another court's warrant is off limits to judges here (MCA 46-9-201).
• Extradition. A person sent back from another state can't get bail until the warrant's judge sees them (MCA 46-9-105).
• Supervision. Being on probation or parole matters to the judge (MCA 46-9-109). Ask if a probation or parole hold is in place.
• Two courts. A town case in Columbus and a county case each need a bail of their own.
• Federal and ICE detainers. Answers 17 and 18 explain these.

Call 406-256-6881 and ask booking to list each hold on file before you pay a cent.

Hardly ever. The state Constitution makes bail a right. The one exception: a capital case in which "the proof is evident or the presumption great" (Mont. Const. art. II, sec. 21). Excessive bail is banned as well (Mont. Const. art. II, sec. 22).

Still, a judge may deny release under MCA 46-9-106 when probable cause shows that no set of safeguards would get the defendant back to court. On that question, the court looks at the offense, past convictions, any history of fleeing or missing court, risk to the public and whether family and a home tie the person here. A validated risk tool may also help (MCA 46-9-109).

The County Attorney is the office that asks for high bail or no bail: 544 North Diamond Street, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-4333.

Yes. The defense or the state can ask the judge to lower, raise or rework bail, after giving the other side reasonable notice (MCA 46-9-311). Bail is not allowed to crush a family, and the judge must factor in what the defendant earns and owns (MCA 46-9-301).

1. Have the lawyer put the request in writing to the right court.
2. Collect proof of a job, a home nearby, family here and what you can truly pay.
3. Offer terms that answer the judge's fears. The county contracts with Alternatives, Inc. for jail alternative services, and its local office is at 400 East 3rd Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-4121.

To learn how a bail hearing gets on the calendar, call the Justice Court at 406-322-8040 or the District Court clerk at 406-322-8030.

Often the state does. The judge must cover the right to counsel at that first hearing (MCA 46-7-102). Montana's public defender covers felonies, youth cases and jailable misdemeanors.

Two tests decide it. One looks at income, with a cutoff of 133% of the federal poverty guideline for the household. The other asks if paying a private attorney would truly strain the family. Having work, or having bail money, is never by itself grounds to refuse (MCA 47-1-111). A sworn financial statement goes with the application, and the court has the final say.

• Billings office: Office of State Public Defender, 207 N. Broadway, Suite 201, Billings, MT 59101, 406-256-6861
• Online form: advopd.mt.gov (keep recent pay stubs and bank records nearby)
• State program site: Montana Public Defender

Two courts share the county courthouse, and the town court meets in City Hall.

• District Court for felonies. This county shares the Twenty-Second Judicial District with Big Horn and Carbon counties. Clerk of District Court, 400 East 3rd Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-8030.
• Justice Court (misdemeanors and early felony steps), 4th floor of that building, 406-322-8040. Its mailing box is PO Box 77, Columbus, MT 59019.
• City Court (town cases), 408 East 1st Avenue North, Columbus, MT 59019, 406-322-5313, ext. 200.
• Federal cases go to the James F. Battin Federal Courthouse, 2601 2nd Avenue North, Suite 1200, Billings, MT 59101, 406-247-7000.

When the case wraps up and your loved one made every hearing, the court returns the cash deposit (MCA 46-9-502). A court rule says refunds go only in the name of whoever paid, so keep that receipt with your ID.

Skipping a hearing puts the bail at risk, since the judge may order it forfeited. Notice of that order has to reach the defendant and any sureties by mail within 10 working days. If that deadline passes without notice, the bond becomes void (MCA 46-9-503).

• If the defendant reappears, or gives a good reason, within 90 days, a judge may set the forfeit aside.
• Kept misdemeanor cash goes to the local treasury where it was posted, and kept felony cash goes to the state (MCA 46-9-511).
• The judge may give forfeited money to a crime victim (MCA 46-9-512).

Refunds come from whichever court took the money. For felony cases, that is the clerk at 406-322-8030.

At YCDF, people walk out through the main lobby. Belongings are collected at the Booking Window, which can be slow on busy days. Under its 2025 agreement with Yellowstone County, Stillwater County is in charge of driving its prisoners to and from the jail, so plans for its prisoners may be different.

Ask booking at 406-256-6881 when and where the release will happen, and how any money left on the account comes back. Our inmate account guide covers deposits and leftover funds.

A federal charge from Stillwater is a case for the Billings Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Its clerk works at 2601 2nd Avenue North, Suite 1200, Billings, MT 59101, 406-247-7000, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• Release or detention is settled by the federal judge when the person first appears. That hearing can slip a few days only if a lawyer requests it (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Before trial, the person answers to the U.S. Marshals Service, 2601 2nd Avenue North, Suite 2300, Billings, MT 59101, 406-200-6004.
• PACER has the filings, at a per-page price.
• Prison location after a federal sentence shows up in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Not with the immigration side. Immigration holds and state bail run on separate tracks. Settling bail leaves the ICE hold standing. The usual steps:

1. Immigration officers send the jail Form I-247A, called a detainer.
2. The person can then be held up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Montana officers have to honor it and explain the hold. The duty ends if the person shows believable papers of citizenship or legal status (MCA 27-16-801).
4. Montana cases belong to an ICE field office based near Salt Lake City: 2975 Decker Lake Drive, Suite 100, West Valley City, UT 84119, 801-736-1200. ICE also keeps a Billings check-in desk for this county at 2900 4th Avenue, Suite 205, Billings, MT 59101, 406-247-4083.
5. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator using the person's full name plus their birth country.

Felony prison terms are run by the Montana Department of Corrections. Right after sentencing, the person usually stays put at the Billings jail while the state does an assessment. Then the state chooses where they go next. That could be prison, or a prerelease or treatment setting.

• The Montana offender search lists where a state prisoner is held. Enter a name or DOC ID.
• Our guide to Montana state prisons describes each one.
• Parole is the work of the Board of Pardons and Parole, 1002 Hollenbeck Road, Deer Lodge, MT 59722, 406-846-1404.

In Montana, a youth is anyone younger than 18. Youth Court, which sits inside the District Court, hears most of their cases (MCA 41-5-203). Teens are kept out of the adult jail in Billings.

• For secure detention, youths from this county are taken to Billings, where the Ted Lechner Youth Services Center holds them. It sits at 410 South 26th Street, Billings, MT 59101, 406-256-6825, and its regional plan lists the county among those it serves.
• Within 24 hours of being locked up, not counting weekends or holidays, a teen must get a probable cause hearing (MCA 41-5-332).
• Youths can be granted bail. Bail for a youth must reflect the money the parents or guardians actually have (MCA 41-5-323).
• Juvenile Probation has its office on the courthouse's first floor, 406-322-8045. Parents can call to find the youth and learn the next court step.