The Yellowstone Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution increasing the  inmate reimbursement rate for Montana Department of Corrections an Federal inmates, held at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility (YCDF). The Montana rate will increase from $82.80 to $117 per inmate/day. The Federal government rate will increase from $85 to $117 per inmate day.

For several years, YCDF has been reimbursed a daily rate per inmate less than actual cost. Approximately 10+ years ago, the State of Montana provided their formula to Yellowstone County to calculate daily inmate rate. Since that time, the Board of County Commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office have attempted to recover actual inmate costs from the state. Montana officials have always claimed Yellowstone County improperly calculated the rate and imposed a rate set by the Legislature. The result has been Yellowstone County taxpayers subsidizing the State to hold their prisoners.

Over the past year, Commissioners, Sheriff’s Office and County Attorney’s office have worked to make YCDF and the criminal justice system, in Yellowstone County, operate more efficiently. While this has helped, it has not relieved pressure on the jail. YCDF routinely houses an average of 575-600+ inmates/day. On average, YCDF houses 50+/- DOC inmates and 50+/- Federal inmates per day.

The effective date of this resolution will be April 1, 2025. This provides an opportunity for the Montana Legislature, during this session to take appropriate action, states the press release.