BILLINGS — The vote is over. The jail problem isn't.
Voters rejected the $175 million bond that would have added 332 beds, along with a $20 million operating levy.
Watch jail story here:
The Yellowstone County Detention Facility is holding about 670 inmates with a capacity of 434.
The county has overcome some of the challenges, as shown by the jail innovation award in June from the National Institute of Jail Operations.
“It's what we're accustomed to, but it sure would have been nice to have those other beds,” said Capt. Brandon Smart.
Smart says more beds would have meant less crowding and a safer jail.
“If I don't have them on the floor, I have them in a bunk,” Smart said. “They're more secure. They're less crowded in that unit. It's a much more manageable unit, and the inmate and the officer are safer."
Sheriff-elect Kent O'Donnell says he'll push the courts, judges, public defenders, and his jail command staff for more ways to reduce the numbers.
He's also considering a smaller bond to expand the jail but does not know when that could go before voters.
He's open to private money helping pay for construction if that's possible.
Opponent Jack Hanson says the county should instead put more into treatment, housing, education, job training, and diversion.
“If we devoted some resources to addressing why people end up incarcerated in the first place, we would need less money, fewer resources to actually deal with the incarceration,” Hanson said.
Smart says some of those programs are already operating inside the jail.
“Drug treatment, mental health treatment, alcohol treatment, all those things run through here, and those things are in effect in working here,” Smart said.
But for now, the math has not changed, and the jail still has far more inmates than beds.
