Cascade Co. Detention Center faces staffing challenges

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Across the country detention facilities are struggling to fill critical staffing positions, and those same challenges are hitting locally in Cascade County.

About seven years ago, the Cascade Co. Detention Center was fully staffed, but when Covid hit, restrictions set on the facility, having to follow court orders and health mandates made the role of a detention officer undesirable.

“It made the detention job 20 times harder. and that’s when we started to see a decline in recruiting for detention,” said Jesse Slaughter, Cascade Co. sheriff.

Slaughter said when he took the reigns as sheriff about seven years ago, the detention center was dilapidated. Like the control panels, door locks, and intercom were not working properly.

Influencing safety and inmate supervision concerns.

Slaughter also adds when the detention facility made the switch from being a state prison to a pre-trial detention facility, it was another added challenge to maintain detention officers.

“It's a building that is run 365 days a year, no holidays, no weekends, no breaks, no down time. and it’s full of anywhere from 500 to 700 people a day and that’s a lot of people that are utilizing all the doors, locks, and toilets,” said Slaughter.

To help address this staffing shortage, Slaughter said the sheriff’s office has been working hard on changing the leadership culture at the detention center to bring in people who are going to bring a positive working culture.

Slaughter said the detention facility is the third highest paying facility in the state by paying just under $25 an hour with built in pay increases, overtime incentives, and other benefits.

He adds the sheriff’s office has been utilizing social media more to attract the next generation of young adults who might be interested in becoming a detention officer.

Then for the first time, the Cascade Co. Sheriff’s Office is hosting a one-day hiring event for detention officers this weekend to help fill 33 positions.

“We're going to hire you for your character. We want you to have high integrity, we want you to be a good human being, we can train to do all the rest of the stuff. We can give you all the technical skills to do the job. But that’s what we’re looking for,” said Slaughter.

If you would like to learn more information about Saturday's hiring event, view the document below.