Gianforte Vetoes Bill Reimbursing Counties for Holding State Inmates 

Gov. Greg Gianforte last week vetoed a bill that would have reimbursed local jails in Montana for holding inmates waiting for a bed at the state mental hospital. The governor cited the need for a long-term solution and pointed to other state actions aimed at resolving the issues lamented by county sheriffs.

Local officials agreed that House Bill 643 offered limited relief. Still, they said the money was necessary to help with the costs of housing an increasing number of mentally ill inmates waiting in jail, often for long periods. 

“It was a Band-Aid,” said Missoula County Attorney Matt Jennings. “A Band-Aid that slowed the bleeding while we wait to see if other changes help.” 

HB 643 appropriated one-time funding of $6 million from the state’s Behavioral Health for Future Generations fund to reimburse counties for Department of Health and Human Services inmates. The department currently does not reimburse counties at all for the cost of holding inmates waiting for a bed at the Montana State Hospital or other state facilities.

According to a legislative fiscal note, the money would have run out in fiscal year 2026 based on the rate of reimbursement outlined in the bill and the estimated number of people waiting for a bed. 

In a June 12 veto letter, Gianforte wrote that the state is making progress in alleviating behavioral health-related challenges in local jails.  

“This issue requires a permanent, comprehensive solution, but House Bill 643 only applies an expensive Band-Aid,” Gianforte wrote. “Fortunately, there are several better solutions the Legislature has approved that will bring us closer to a permanent, comprehensive, cost-effective resolution.” 

The governor’s letter highlighted projects included in House Bill 5, which allocated $14.66 million for renovating the Spratt unit at the Montana State Hospital to free up forensic mental health beds and $26.5 million for a new behavioral health facility in eastern Montana. Gianforte also pointed to money available to counties through the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations fund to complete court-ordered evaluations and stabilization services locally. 

“Based on legislative investments outlined above and MSH’s operational changes, DPHHS expects to significantly reduce the waitlist throughout fiscal year 2026,” Gainforte wrote. “Shorter waitlists reduce counties’ ‘holdover’ detention burden, making House Bill 643 unnecessary.”   

Jennings, Missoula’s county attorney, said the veto was “really disappointing and unfortunate” after many people, including lawmakers, sheriffs and county attorneys, took time to explain the current burden on local governments. But money is not the only consideration, he said. 

“I’m actually really disappointed that the governor’s veto letter didn’t address the much greater concern and that is treating the mentally ill with dignity and respect and providing the care they need,” Jennings wrote in an email. “Yes, these folks committed crimes, and a judge has determined they are not safe to be in the community. But for many of them, their actions arose directly from their severe mental illnesses. Most of them should be in a hospital getting help.” 

Bill sponsor Rep. Tracy Sharp, R-Polson, said the veto was “foolish” given HB 643’s bipartisan support and the need to relieve local governments and taxpayers footing the bill at the state and county level. In its final votes, 147 of 150 legislators supported the bill. 

“When people are in emotional trauma, they don’t belong in jails,” Sharp said. “Sometimes a person having a mental crisis ends up in a cell built for two, but they can only put one person in there. The strain this puts on counties across the state is tremendous.” 

Sharp said the governor’s argument doesn’t hold water given that all parties are on board with a long-term fix and that projects to expand state hospital and prison capacity will take time. 

“In the interim, between now and 2027, the counties made it quite clear they need relief,” Sharp said. “It’s not fair or just to push a state obligation off onto counties and property tax payers when it’s a state obligation that is already funded.” 

Even though the $6 million was set to run out in fiscal year 2026, during the next session the Legislature could evaluate if projects to expand capacity are adequately addressing the waitlist problem, Sharp said. If not, the state should continue reimbursing counties to help residents who are “double taxed,” he said. 

Sharp said he started the process to override the governor’s veto, which requires support from at least two-thirds of both the House and Senate. The secretary of state will send each legislator a ballot to vote on the override, the bill and the governor’s veto letter, Sharp said. Results will likely be available sometime in July, he said. 

Along with a host of bills addressing the state’s behavioral health system, HB 643 was also among lawmakers’ efforts to tackle the increased number of state inmates housed in local jails as the state prison system contends with overcrowding.  

The bill initially required the state Department of Corrections and DPHHS to reimburse counties for the actual cost of holding inmates. The DOC currently pays counties a minimum of $82 or 10% lower than the daily per-inmate rate for Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby, whichever is higher. Sharp said he amended the bill to remove the DOC reimbursement increase because of the “sticker shock.” House Bill 913, which Gianforte signed in May, increases the DOC reimbursement rate to $85.30 per day and removes language related to Crossroads. 

The Legislature also approved $436 million for prison expansion, as well as ongoing funding for contracts with CoreCivic to house about 600 prisoners out of state.

As of Wednesday, county jails held 338 state inmates, according to the Department of Corrections. 

The waitlist for DPHHS facilities averages 100 to 125 people held daily in county detention centers, according to information provided by the department in HB 643’s fiscal note.

In Missoula, the number of inmates waiting for evaluation or treatment at the state hospital has more than doubled over the last year and a half, said Sheryl Ziegler, the jail commander. Prior to the last few years, the Missoula County Detention Center would only see one or two DPHHS inmates at a time, and they wouldn’t stay for too long, she said. 

In December 2023, the jail housed nine DPHHS inmates for a cost of $30,000 based on the county’s calculated daily cost per inmate at the time, Ziegler said. In April, the jail housed 21 DPHHS inmates, which cost $77,280 for that month, she said. Those costs are based on the county’s current daily cost per inmate of $138. 

One inmate who has been sentenced to DPHHS commitment has waited in jail for more than 500 days, Ziegler said. 

“It’s not just that the department does not compensate us,” she said. “It’s doing a disservice to individuals legally in their custody. I’m proud of the work the jail does for mental health, but it’s insufficient to meet the needs. A court determined they need a hospital-level intervention for their mental health issues, and that is not something we can provide.” 

The jail tries to integrate DPHHS inmates into the general population, but that is not always possible when considering safety, inmate preferences and medical conditions, Ziegler said. While some waiting for a state hospital bed do just fine in the jail, they are still not moving forward with their cases or treatment, she said. 

An increasing number of inmates with severe mental illness puts additional burdens on staff and contracted medical and mental health providers, Ziegler said. 

“Our staff are really frustrated, … They feel a bit helpless with this population,” she said. “They don’t have the resources, the time and it’s not their role. It’s so outside of the scope of what they were hired to do, it can feel disheartening.” 

The Yellowstone County jail currently houses about 18 inmates waiting for mental health evaluations, Sheriff Mike Linder said. Most of them take up a two-person cell on their own, and some inmates wait a year or longer for a bed at the state hospital, he said. The jail has a capacity for 434 inmates but housed nearly 630 as of Wednesday, according to its roster.  

“Doing something about the process is critical and so is being reimbursed,” Linder said. 

The sheriff said it’s “too bad” HB 643 was vetoed, but the county will continue to work on the issue through the Legislature and consider other options. 

Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said while he didn’t closely track the bill, he was generally in favor of reimbursement. The jail, which has also struggled with overcrowding, has held inmates waiting for a bed at Warm Springs for several months at a time, he said. 

“We’re not a mental health hospital,” Slaughter said. “We don’t have all the resources. And if we did, the jail would cost double or triple what it costs to run.”

The county last year received grant funds to establish mental health services in Great Falls, with the goal of providing care for people who would otherwise end up in jail. Slaughter said that while there will always be a need for Warm Springs, he would love to see community-based mental health centers.

This session, the Legislature passed several bills to allow mental health commitments in the community in some cases rather than at the state hospital. 

Missoula County Attorney Jennings said while he supports those bills and the state’s other long-term initiatives, they will take time and money to affect current backlogs and challenges. 

“It’s this real balancing act of something to accomplish the long-term perspective of fixing things down the road, but also feeling like our mental system is in a crisis right now,” he said. 

Addressing deficiencies in the state’s civil mental health system would help prevent people from getting involved in the criminal justice system down the road, Jennings said.  

“If our mental health system was working better, we would go way upstream from people in jails and ID people starting to deteriorate with long-term mental illness … and make sure they’re getting needs taken care of in the community,” Jennings said. 

A DPHHS program, launched last year recommended by the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission and approved by the governor, will help decrease the state hospital waitlist and the number of “holdover” defendants in county jails, Gianforte wrote in his veto letter. The $7.5 million program dedicates $1 million for community-based court-ordered evaluations and $6.5 million for stabilization and restoration services. 

According to the health department, as of Wednesday, 73 evaluations had been completed in 18 counties for a little over $200,000. Of those evaluations, 23 were completed in Missoula County, nine in Yellowstone County, eight in Flathead County and five each in Cascade and Silver Bow counties. 

Jennings said while local evaluations take less time and cost less than sending someone to the state hospital, they don’t solve the current problem. 

“Even when we do initial [evaluations] in our jail, defendants have to wait up to a year for a bed at MSH,” he said. 

Jennings said local governments have a role in the state’s mental health system but need money to improve services. 

“The governor believes this is a county responsibility, but that is not how it is set up at any level of government in any state,” Jennings said. “If the governor wants counties to take this over, give us the funding to do so, don’t veto our opportunities to fix this.” 

Matt Hudson contributed reporting. 

This story originally appeared in the Montana Free Press, which can be found online at montanafreepress.org.