by Michael Howell
After working its way through the court for over six years and following a six-day trial, a jury in Federal District Court in Missoula decided in only a few hours of deliberation in favor of Ravalli County in a case challenging the legality of the county’s Jail Diversion Program.
The lawsuit, first filed in 2021, alleged claims against Ravalli County, Sheriff Steve Holton, and the county’s two District Court judges and two justices of the peace. All the charges against individuals were dismissed but the claims against Ravalli County were allowed to move forward. One of the four Ravalli County residents who were original plaintiffs in the case dropped out but the case itself was elevated to a class action lawsuit. The suit was only seeking monetary damages of $5,549 for the three individual plaintiffs named in the case, however.
The county’s Jail Diversion Program provides court-ordered pretrial services for a fee. Often after an initial hearing detainees may be released on their own recognizance or on bail while awaiting trial, but they may also have certain conditions placed on them that require supervision and testing for drug and alcohol use, sometimes involving lab testing, ankle bracelets, suspension of driving privileges and other restrictions.
Plaintiffs in the case described it as “a wealth-based discrimination scheme” that works by requiring pretrial arrestees who are not convicted of any crime to pay “exorbitant” fees to get out and stay out of jail, without regard to their ability to pay. They accused the county of both false imprisonment and due process violations, arguing that the county violated their procedural due process rights by, among other things, charging pretrial supervision fees without the opportunity to contest them or assessing their ability to pay; requiring fees to be paid before release from detention; reporting non-payment as a violation of bail conditions, leading to detention; and requiring fees up-front, resulting in prolonged detention after individuals had posted bail. (See last week’s Bitterroot Star for details of the nine-count allegations.)
The false imprisonment charges were dismissed midway through the six-day trial. Sheriff Holton said that a lot was made about the fact that fees were arbitrarily set by his office which simply is not the case.
“It is true that I propose the fees to the Ravalli County Board of Commissioners, who in turn either approve or deny the proposal in a public meeting, after public notice and the opportunity for public comment,” he said.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys also called the fees “exorbitant.” But according to Holton, “Jail Diversion is an expensive program. The technology of alcohol detection and GPS units is expensive. The laboratory fees for confirming drug tests is expensive. It is expensive to maintain a staff of Pre-Trial/Misdemeanor Probation Officers. The fees defendants pay fund those things.”
He said the cost of running the program far outstrips the amount that fees bring in, and the fees help keep the program solvent. He said without subsidizing the program through other state funding the program would not be viable. He said in 2025 the amount of subsidized funding from the state came to about $97,000. He said the Sheriff’s Office also subsidizes the program through the payroll for one officer.
Holton also disagreed with the allegations that arrestees had no chance to challenge their fees and were threatened with jail for not paying them. “No one has ever had their bail revoked for simply not paying their fees. The courts order conditions of release. All defendants are afforded opportunities to argue or contest the conditions of release.”
Ravalli County Justice of the Peace Jennifer Ray provided an affidavit used at trial stating that, “The court regularly works with people who have difficulty making payments to help them adjust their payments during times of financial hardship.”
According to Holton, the judges also have a good idea of what the Jail Diversion Program costs are and consider it when establishing bail amounts and in imposing fines if the defendant agrees to use the program. He said the defendants can either bring these questions up at their pre-trial hearing or at any time before trial make a motion to consider their abilities to pay.
Holton said people are not arrested for not paying their fees. He said the office would continue to provide services and testing even when fees are not paid unless it goes on so long that it seems apparent that they are not trying.
“Even then,” said Holton, “what we do is simply stop providing the services. They are not arrested. There are private companies that they can turn to in Missoula or they can petition the court to consider their situation and address it. Arrests made during Jail Diversion are almost always made based on other violations of their conditions, such as drug or alcohol use or some other offense, not for non-payment of fees. I think that came out pretty clearly in the trial.”
Holton also defended the value and effectiveness of the program for both the county and the arrestees. “If the defendants did not pay fees for the services, the program would not exist. The Jail Diversion Program has exceeded my expectations since it began in 2018. We have reduced the average daily population of the Ravalli County jail by over 30%. The reason we can reduce that population is the courts have the option of letting people out of jail, but can still keep Ravalli County safe as criminal defendants are monitored while released. The program also has benefits for defendants. It allows defendants the opportunity to maintain or seek employment, when otherwise they would be incarcerated as the case runs its course. Defendants are held accountable during the release, which is sometimes what they need to help them achieve sobriety.”
Holton said he wanted to thank the Montana Association of Counties Litigation Team. “They did an outstanding job. Their efforts and over 2000 hours of work over the last six years are the reason the court and jury were able to make a clear and unanimous decision, finding that Ravalli County did not violate anyone’s due process rights.”
Phil Telfeyan, Executive Director at Equal Justice Under Law, representing the plaintiffs in the case, said, “The evidence at trial showed that Ravalli County’s pre-trial fees are exorbitant, egregious, and lack any judicial oversight. Thousands of residents of Ravalli County will continue to be abused by this unjust system unless the County makes serious changes. We plan to explore all legal avenues for appeal.”
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