In 2023, Missoula County received an additional two-year, $410,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to continue work to safely reduce the Missoula County jail population, address justice system inequities and collaborate with community members.

The grant marks the third grant cycle where the MacArthur Foundation has invested in Missoula County as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, a national initiative to reduce over-incarceration and eliminate inequities in local criminal justice systems by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails.

Missoula County was first selected to join the Safety and Justice Challenge Network in 2018 with an initial $700,000 grant. The County received an additional $700,000 grant in 2021 to further implement innovative, evidence-based strategies to transform Missoula justice system.

Programmatic strategies have included:

• The creation of two new programs: Calibrate, administered by the County Attorney’s Office, which defers criminal charges if a participant agrees to a treatment plan, and the Community Supported Re-entry Program, which provides intensive case management services to people who have frequent interactions with the criminal-legal system involving non-violent crimes.
• Increasing the use of technology to improve court appearances by purchasing a court appointment reminder software system and supporting remote court attendance options for all defendants.
• Hiring new staff, including two chemical dependency evaluators to assess defendants pre-trial and post-conviction to expedite getting people into chemical dependency treatment and a Native American support specialist who works in the Office of the Public Defender to offer culturally specific case management services.

Missoula is one of only 11 jurisdictions selected for additional funding based on the promise and progress of work to date. In Missoula County, the largest driving factors for detention at the jail are people failing to appear for their court cases, violating conditions of their pre-trial release, probation and parole, and revocation of a suspended or deferred sentence.

These cases indicate that defendants of crime and those on probation and parole may need additional services to be successful in the community. Investing in supportive services and court reminders increases positive behavior change for those involved in the criminal-legal system. Additionally, addressing failures to appear in court helps save money while still holding people accountable because housing people in jail is more expensive. More information about the work underway can be found on the Missoula County network page.

• Redefining Community Safety in Missoula, 2024
• Sequential Intercept Mapping Report, 2023
• Movement in County Crime Trends, 2023
• Public Safety Assessment Validation Analysis, 2023
• Stakeholder Analysis, 2023
• Missoula County Stress Test Summary, 2022 (prepared by the Safety + Justice Challenge)
• Criminal Justice System Stakeholder Interview Analysis, 2022