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Montana has an incarceration rate of 789 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Montana and why.

7,400 people from Montana are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Montana is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 18,000 different people are booked into local jails in Montana.

Using 2020 census data, we looked at where people in Montana prisons come from. We found mass incarceration harms all corners of the state.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Montana graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Montana’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites, Hispanics, and American Indians/Native Americans in Montana prisons and jails.

Montana's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in Montana

Prisons and jails in Montana are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in Montana charge up to $4.50 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge $1.50 for a 15-minute phone call.
• Montana is one of just a handful of states that do not charge people in prison copays for medical care.
• Montana prisons charge families up to a 20% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• If a person in Montana prisons has more than $15 in their commissary account they do not qualify for assistance to purchase essentials like hygiene items and postage.
• People in Montana prisons earn as little as 16¢ an hour for their work.

Our other articles about Montana

• Report: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Montana
• Montana prisons release about 2,475 people every year
• Montana has recently had a 23% staff turnover rate in its prisons
• Montana hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records until they complete probation and parole sentences
• New data: Low incomes - but high fees - for people on probation in Montana
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Montana gets a D
• Who's helping the 7,909 women released from Montana correctional facilities each year?
• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Montana
• More on prison gerrymandering in Montana

Data on COVID-19 in Montana jails and prisons

We gave Montana a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• Montana released fewer people on parole in 2020 than they had in 2019, and approved a smaller percent of parole applications.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency.

Other resources

• Research on Montana in our Research Library