BILLINGS — Yellowstone County voters will decide Tuesday on two measures to fund a major expansion of the county jail, with supporters calling the investment a critical step toward addressing years of overcrowding and improving public safety.
Watch the overview below:
The ballot includes a $175 million bond to expand and improve the Yellowstone County Detention Facility and an operational mill levy of up to $20 million annually to help staff and run it.
The proposed expansion would add 332 beds to a jail with a rated capacity of 434 that has been operating well above that limit. The bond would fund construction, deferred maintenance, and facility improvements, while the levy would cover staffing and operational costs.
Former Billings City Council member Jennifer Owen, who supports the measures through the citizen-led group Safe and Secure Yellowstone County, said the county has already spent years pursuing alternatives to incarceration and reducing the jail population.
"We spent two and a half years studying every way possible to reduce jail population without asking for more taxpayer resources," Owen said. "We did those things. We implemented reforms, and there's work still to do."
Owen said local analysis, supported by national experts, found that expanding the facility was necessary to address overcrowding and support other public safety investments, including additional judges, law enforcement officers and crime prevention efforts.
She said the additional space would allow the jail to better classify and separate inmates, provide dedicated mental health and medical beds, and improve safety conditions for correctional officers.
"This is not a silver bullet. It's the next critical step in making a comprehensive strategy work," said Owen.
Owen acknowledged the financial impact on taxpayers, estimating the combined measures would cost about $164 annually for a home with a taxable value of $300,000.
She also pointed to domestic violence and other violent crime as reasons the county needs adequate detention capacity, saying victims deserve to know offenders will be held accountable.
Opponents question whether expanding incarceration is the best use of taxpayer money and argue the county should have more thoroughly examined alternatives. Jack Hanson, a retired public policy analyst who spoke with MTN last month, said investing in treatment could be a more cost-effective approach for people whose incarceration is primarily tied to untreated mental health or substance use disorders.
"We all know that it's cheaper to address mental health issues or substance use issues in a therapeutic setting, in a treatment setting, rather than an incarceration setting," Hanson said.
Owen warned that failing to approve the expansion could leave the county facing legal and financial consequences related to overcrowding. She said a potential lawsuit could cost the county millions of dollars and could ultimately force officials to release inmates to bring the jail population within legal limits.
"The people who are in there need to be in there," Owen said. "There are people who are not in there that need to be in there. So the alternative to expanding the actual physical infrastructure, there simply isn't one."
The two measures are designed to work together. The bond would fund the physical expansion, while the operational levy would provide the resources to staff and operate the facility. Both measures must pass for the proposed plan to move forward.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Related:
Yellowstone County operating levy could be collected before the jail expansion is finished
Bond on the ballot: Yellowstone County's $195M jail expansion heads to voters
