The Cascade County Sheriff’s Office has stopped posting booking photos on its online jail roster.

Sheriff Jesse Slaughter told The Electric that his office was receiving numerous complaints about the photos being posted, prompting a legal review with the Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki.

Slaughter and Racki said that under one section of Montana law, booking photos are public information.

In another section of Montana law, it states that there are no restrictions on the dissemination of public criminal justice information.

But, in 2021, the Montana Legislature passed a law adding a provision to that same section stating that booking photos are public information but to be released before criminal proceedings have concluded, the county has to charge a $100 for the photo.

The code states that the fee can be waived in “extenuating circumstances,” but gives no guidance as to what might be considered such a situation.

The next subsection states that “if a person is convicted of an offense related to the arrest for which the booking photograph was taken, the criminal justice agency may not charge a clerking fee for the release of the booking photograph.”

Slaughter and Racki said that contradiction in state law lead to some uncertainty as to how booking photos should be handled and accessed.

“After talking with the legislative sponsor of the relevant statutes and getting a better understanding of the intent behind the laws, we’ve decided to remove mugshots from the online booking roster. This change helps us stay in line with the law and keep our public information policies consistent,” Slaughter said.

During a Facebook live hosted by CCSO, Racki said that the conflicting state laws and the recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeal decision that ruled posting booking photos wasn’t permissible lead them to their decision to end posting the photos.

The 9th Circuit decision was issued in September 2024 in a case initially brought against the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona. That department “posted photographs of arrestees on its website, accompanied by identifying information, for several days after an arrest. These identified photographs are often gathered by other internet sites and thus remain available after they are removed from the county website, even if the arrestee is never prosecuted, let alone convicted. The result is public exposure and humiliation of pretrial detainees, who are presumed innocent and may not be punished before an adjudication of guilt. Our question is whether Maricopa County’s policy of posting photographs of arrestees is constitutionally permissible. We conclude that it is not.”

Racki said that in law, there are frequently sections that are contradictory and when there’s one section that’s general and one that’s specifica, they want to follow the specific statute, which is what they’re doing by no longer posting booking photos on the county website.

Slaughter said that other arrest information will continue to be accessible as required by Montana law.

Booking photos may still be requested through appropriate legal channels, subject to the applicable fees and restrictions.