A quick phone call beats any website here, because people move between jails often. Try these steps:

1. Dial 406-466-5781. Staff answer the non-emergency line day and night.
2. Say the person's full legal name, any nickname and their birthday.
3. Ask three things: are they in custody, what are the charges, and which jail has them?
4. If they were sent elsewhere, write down that jail's name and number.
5. For extra checking, the general inmate lookup is there. When it disagrees with the staff, believe the staff.

Save 911 for real emergencies.

A blank search doesn't mean the person is lost. Common reasons:

• Brand-new arrest. Booking paperwork takes a while.
• Already home. Someone paid the bail, or the judge let them leave after signing a pledge.
• Transferred. They may now sit in the Pondera or Chouteau County jail, or in state or federal custody.
• Odd spelling. Search again using their middle name, an old last name or what friends call them.
• A minor. Anyone under 18 goes to a youth center, not the adult lockup.

The people with the real answer pick up at 406-466-5781. Office staff are in from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

The Choteau facility had 4 beds in a 2022 report to the Legislature and is set up as a 72-hour hold. For longer custody, the Sheriff's Office names two other jails:

• Pondera County Jail, 20 4th Avenue SW, Suite 109, Conrad, MT 59425, 406-271-4060
• Chouteau County Detention Center, 1215 Washington St, Fort Benton, MT 59442, 406-622-3660

Mind the names. Chouteau County, with Fort Benton as its seat, is a different place from the town of Choteau. Each jail runs on its own visiting, mail and money rules. The Sheriff's Office at 406-466-5781 can say which one has your loved one.

It can happen when the arrest took place in another county, or when another agency served a warrant. Two large lockups elsewhere in Montana:

• Cascade County Detention Facility, 3800 Ulm N Frontage Road, Great Falls, MT 59404. The Sheriff's Office there answers 406-454-6820.
• Flathead County Detention Center, 920 South Main, Suite 100, Kalispell, MT 59901, 406-758-5617

If you have no idea where the arrest happened, start with the home county's Sheriff's Office at 406-466-5781 and ask whether any other agency picked the person up.

Montana's criminal justice records law treats booking pictures, bail paperwork and daily custody lists as open to the public (MCA 44-5-103). Want a copy of a booking picture? Ask the Sheriff's Office on a weekday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. by dialing 406-466-5781. If the person was booked at another jail, ask that jail instead.

When immigration officers hold the photo, ICE handles it through its own ICE records request page, not the Sheriff.

Your best bet is regular calls to whichever jail has them. For the Choteau lockup, that number is 406-466-5781.

• VINE costs nothing and sends its alerts as calls, texts or emails. In this state, coverage is limited to adult felons under state corrections, such as prison inmates and parolees. Nobody is signed up automatically, so use VINELink or call 800-456-3076.
• Partner violence and stalking cases. Bail release of the accused triggers a required jail notice to the alleged victim (MCA 46-9-108). Strangling and protection order cases are covered too.
• ICE cases. A crime victim can join a federal alert list, the Victim Notification Program. You can find it through the Sheriff's website as well.

A judge decides on release during the opening hearing. Locally, the same judge runs the Justice Court and all three town courts, so call 406-466-5611 to find out when that hearing happens. The law has the judge choose the lightest terms likely to bring the person back.

• Many misdemeanors start from the Montana Supreme Court's suggested bond list.
• For felonies, the judge sets the number.
• Partner or family assault suspects stay put until the judge sees them.
• Local judges can't grant bail on another county's or state's warrant.

Head to our bail page for figures, payment steps and bondsmen.

Ask the Sheriff's Office when you call. Charges are written as Montana law numbers, and you can look up any of them free on the Montana Code Annotated site. For example, theft is section 45-6-301.

Filed cases list each count word for word. Look up a misdemeanor through the limited court portal, or a felony through the District Court portal. Which charges stick in the end is up to the Teton County Attorney, 19 Main Avenue South, Choteau, MT 59422, 406-466-2860.

Lawyers come up on day one. From the bench, the person is told they may have one, and someone short on money learns how to get one free. Montana's Office of State Public Defender takes serious charges, any case that could mean jail, and youth matters.

• Great Falls office: 615 2nd Ave. N., Great Falls, MT 59403, 406-770-3200
• You can fill out the request online at advopd.mt.gov. Keep recent pay records and bank records nearby.

Families may pay for a private lawyer instead. In Fort Benton, attorneys and clergy schedule their visits ahead, and staff may search them on the way in and out.

It depends on which building holds the person. Call ahead every time.

• Choteau holding facility: appointment only. Book one by calling 406-466-5781.
• Chouteau County Detention Center, Fort Benton: Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Each visit runs 20 minutes, with no more than two visitors at a time. Adults show ID, and anyone under 18 needs an adult along. Check the schedule at 406-622-3660.
• Pondera County Jail, Conrad: phone 406-271-4060 for its visiting days and rules.

Before your first jail visit, skim our visiting guide.

An account balance pays for chips, shampoo, phone minutes and the like. Each jail has its own deposit setup, so ring the right one and ask about methods, fees and caps:

• Choteau: 406-466-5781
• Conrad (Pondera): 406-271-4060
• Fort Benton (Chouteau): 406-622-3660

Usual deposit choices are in our guide to sending money. To see what an account can be spent on, open our commissary page.

Each jail picks its own phone and messaging system. Ring the one holding your loved one. Find out how a call gets to you, the price, and if messages or tablets exist there. Ask, too, whether calls get recorded.

Save case details for conversations with the lawyer. For the basics, read our jail calls guide, along with our inmate email and texting overview.

Call before you mail anything. Your loved one may be in Choteau, Conrad or Fort Benton, and each jail has its own address and rules. The Sheriff's Office mailing address is P.O. Box 1349, Choteau, MT 59422, but check with staff at 406-466-5781 before using it for an inmate.

Find out whether pictures or books can be included. Print their full legal name, and add a return address on the outside. Our jail mail guide covers common rules. Cash must never travel by envelope.

Wallets, phones and keys taken at booking wait at the jail holding the person. After time in Pondera or Chouteau County, those belongings may sit there now. Phone first, ask which ID to bring, and ask if a signed release lets you pick up for them. For the Choteau facility, call 406-466-5781 during weekday office hours.

Inmate health care is the job of whichever jail has the person. For an illness, an injury or daily medicine, phone that jail without waiting. Tell staff the drug, the amount taken and how to reach the doctor who prescribed it. For the Choteau facility, the number is 406-466-5781.

Mention plainly if you worry about a mental health emergency. Dial 911 when life is at risk.

Ask the Sheriff's Office about warrants by calling 406-466-5781, staffed all night and all day. That same call is the place to start for an arrest inside Choteau, Fairfield or Dutton. Pending cases appear on Montana's free court sites, with a limited court portal for the lower courts and a District Court portal for felonies. Anyone who ran from state supervision is marked as an absconder or escapee on the Montana offender search. Report a sighting or tip through the Sheriff's online tip form. Talk with a lawyer before turning yourself in. Then surrender at the Sheriff's Office, or call the court to set up a new date.

Ask the court that owns the case:

• Justice Court and the city courts of Choteau, Fairfield and Dutton: 406-466-5611. Its clerk works weekday mornings.
• Clerk of District Court, 1 Main Avenue South, Choteau, MT 59422, 406-466-2909, for felonies.

Many dates also show up on Montana's two court portals at no cost. From first hearing to sentencing, our court guide explains the road ahead.

Federal arrests from this county end up before the federal bench at the Missouri River Federal Courthouse, 125 Central Avenue West, Suite 110, Great Falls, MT 59404, 406-727-1922.

1. The first federal court date brings a detention hearing. It settles whether they await trial at home or locked up (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Federal defendants waiting for trial are guarded by U.S. marshals. Some end up in county jails that rent beds for federal prisoners. Ask about location at the Marshals' Montana headquarters, 406-200-6004.
3. Case papers are on PACER.
4. Once sentenced, they can be found on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by name or register number.

An immigration hold tends to follow this pattern:

1. ICE sends the jail a written request, Form I-247A, asking it to keep the person.
2. That paper lets the jail hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. Montana makes officers honor it. The exception is anyone carrying solid papers that prove citizenship or legal presence (MCA 27-16-801).
3. Afterward ICE takes the person to a holding site connected with the Salt Lake City Field Office, 2975 Decker Lake Drive, Suite 100, West Valley City, UT 84119, 801-736-1200.
4. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Enter the country of birth along with an A-number or the name exactly as booked. No match? ICE's advice is to contact that field office.

Following a felony sentence to state custody, a county jail often holds the person while the Department of Corrections completes intake. Even during that wait, the state's records may already list them.

• Type a name or a state ID into the Montana offender search. Results list the facility and status.
• Our Montana state prisons guide explains visiting and writing at each site.
• Parole questions: Board of Pardons and Parole, 1002 Hollenbeck Road, Deer Lodge, MT 59722, 406-846-1404.

Youths who must be locked up are taken to Great Falls. Their stop is the Cascade County Juvenile Detention Center, located at 1600 26th Street S, Great Falls, MT 59405, 406-454-6930. It houses young people from 10 to 18 and lists this county among those it serves. Parents and close family can set up Zoom visits on Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 to 10:30 a.m. and Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Call the center to get on the schedule.

These cases belong to Youth Court, and their files never show on public portals. For a detained youth, the hearing deadline is 24 hours, though weekends and holidays stop the clock (MCA 41-5-332). Youth Court, at 406-466-2122, knows which facility has your child and what step is next.

The county counted 6,496 residents in the newest Census Bureau figures, dated July 1, 2025. Of those, Choteau had 1,825, Fairfield 797 and Dutton 318. These offices may make an arrest here:

• Sheriff's Office, 26 First Street SE, Choteau, MT 59422, 406-466-5781. Deputies cover the county. For an arrest inside one of the three towns, call this number to learn which agency handled it.
• Montana Highway Patrol, 18 Trooper Drive, Boulder, MT 59632, with 24-hour dispatch at 855-647-3777.
• Rocky Mountain Ranger District of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, 1102 Main Ave. NW, Choteau, MT 59422, 406-466-5341, for questions about national forest land.