Cascade County Commission approves new U.S. Marshals contract for jail
Cascade County Commissioners approved a three-year agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service for housing federal inmates in the Cascade County Adult Detention Center.
The new contract increases the daily rate that federal agencies pay the county per inmate per day from $115 to $130.
That’s less than the $160 daily rate that Sheriff Jesse Slaughter was seeking.
The new contract also increases the guard/transportation hourly rate from $33 to $44.47.
The new contract is effective Nov. 1, 2026.
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Slaughter told The Electric that the jail averages about 100 federal inmates a day, so the increased rate amounts to about $500,000 in additional revenue per year.
During the county commission’s Nov. 4 work session, Commissioner Joe Briggs said that the $130 daily rate in the new contract was not the level Slaughter had presented during the budget process, “so we’ve got some problems.”
The county budget adopted by commissioners in September reflects an average daily population of 120 federal inmates at the previous rate of $115 for $5,037,000 in revenue, plus six U.S. Immigration and Customs inmates at $135 daily rate for $295,650, for a total of $5,332,650.
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The Marshal contract includes ICE.
At the increased rate, using the 100 federal inmates daily average, the revenue for a year from Nov. 1 equates to 4,745,000.
As of Nov. 10, the jail roster showed 74 federal inmates and 24 immigration inmates for a total of 98. The roster doesn’t specify which federal or immigration agency is holding those inmates.
The county’s adopted budget for the sheriff’s office shows an overall fund balance of $51,356.
The actual budget for CCSO for the budget year that ended June 30 had a deficit of $2,485,569.08.
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During an August budget meeting, Slaughter told commissioners that he was working to increase the daily rate from $115 to $160.
He said the Cascade County jail is the largest federal detention facility in Montana and the only one to hold ICE detainees, which were included in the previous Marshals contract.
Slaughter told The Electric that the Cascade County jail has the lowest daily cost per inmate and the federal contract rates are based on that actual cost.
In July 2025, Slaughter told commissioners he was working on the Marshals contract and was “optimistic” he could get the daily rate up to $135.
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On Aug. 14, CCSO Undersheriff Scott Van Dyken said the county jail had:
- 32 CBP detainees
- 10 ICE detainees
- 97 U.S. Marshals holds
- 33 state men’s prison waits
- 13 women’s prison waits
In September, Slaughter announced changes at the jail due to critical staffing levels, which included moving federal inmates out.
Last week, Slaughter told The Electric he was accepting federal inmates and was working with the Montana Department of Correction to ensure state inmates were being moved to state facilities or treatment programs.
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He said the reduction in the daily population due to low staffing will have an impact on his budget since the jail revenue is dictated by revenue-generating beds.
County officials have been discussing the jail funding model for years and during the Aug. 14 meeting, Trista Besich, county finance officer, said they needed to quit pointing fingers and work together on jail funding.
Slaughter said none of the people currently in office created the revenue-based model for the jail.
In August, he said they may need to do a levy to fund jail operations, which equates to $7 million a year now.
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Besich said if they ran a levy for the jail three years from now, they’d probably need $8.5 million.
Slaughter said that would be in addition to the $4 million already allocated to the jail through the county budget and that it costs about $13 million to operate the jail.
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He said his fear is that voters would approve a levy for jail funding and the county would take that $4 million away.
Slaughter said the county jail would always hold federal inmates since there’s a federal courthouse in Great Falls, but shifting away from a revenue-based model would give the sheriff the ability to deny paid beds when the jail doesn’t have adequate staffing.
He said he believes the county will grow over the next decade and another option is to cite and release those committing criminal offenses rather than hold them in jail.
He said the pre-trial program has been successful, reducing the jail population by 75-100 inmates daily.
Slaughter said he’d looked at options to privatize the jail, but the numbers aren’t currently in the county’s favor.
In August, Commissioner Eric Hinebauch said that in the near future, they’re going ot have to discuss a levy, but “we’re sure as hell not going to be able to run a $9 million levy.”
Slaughter said he didn’t think the county could run multiple public safety levies, or in smaller chunks at a time.
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Hinebauch said the position the Montana Legislature has put local governments in almost requires that they run levies to catch up with costs.
He said he was open to discussing the possibility of a levy for jail operations.
Briggs said the immediate problem is that the current budget is using reserves for operations.
“It took 20 years to build those god damned reserves and now they’re just gonna go poof,” he said.
