Butte Civil Rights Lawyers

Butte, MontanaButte Civil Rights

Butte Civil Rights Lawyers: Jail Deaths, In-Custody Injuries, Excessive Force and Section 1983 Claims in Butte-Silver Bow

Boland Aarab PLLP.

If a person was seriously injured or died while held at the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center or another southwest Montana facility, or was hurt by excessive force during an arrest, the family or the injured person may have a civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, along with claims under Montana law. Butte civil rights cases are usually heard in the federal Butte Division, and the evidence must be preserved quickly.

Lost a family member in custody, or hurt by excessive force? Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Which facilities and agencies are involved in Butte cases?

Knowing who held the person, and who provided their care, is the first step in any custody case.

• The Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center, at 155 West Quartz Street in Uptown Butte, is the county jail. It is operated by the City and County of Butte-Silver Bow, which reports that it runs 365 days a year with 27 detention officers and five civilian staff and an inmate capacity of 72 (Butte-Silver Bow). Most people held in a county jail are pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of anything.
• The Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement Department, the consolidated city-county agency led by the elected sheriff, makes most arrests in Butte. The Montana Highway Patrol makes arrests on the interstates.
• Pre-release and state facilities. Butte has a state-contracted pre-release center operated by a private nonprofit, which moved in 2025 from Uptown to a state-owned building south of Harrison Avenue. The Montana State Prison is in nearby Deer Lodge. Claims involving state facilities or state contractors follow different rules from claims against Butte-Silver Bow.
• Medical contractors. Jails and correctional facilities often contract with private companies for medical and mental-health care. Those contractors can be defendants in their own right.

We do not assume anything about any facility or officer. Each case turns on its own records.

What happens after a death or serious injury in custody in Butte?

1. Request and preserve the records immediately. Jail video, cell-check logs, booking and intake screening forms, medical and medication records, incident reports, and radio and phone records are usually kept on short retention schedules. A written preservation demand should go to Butte-Silver Bow, and to any medical contractor, as soon as possible.
2. Ask about an autopsy. When a person dies in custody, an independent review of the medical findings can be important.
3. Open an estate. A wrongful-death and survival case generally needs a personal representative, appointed through the Second Judicial District Court in Silver Bow County (§ 3-5-101(2), MCA) if the person lived in Butte.
4. Present state-law claims in writing. Claims against Butte-Silver Bow must be presented to its clerk or secretary (§ 2-9-301(3), MCA); claims against the State go to the Department of Administration.

Which court? Section 1983 cases from Butte are usually filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Butte Division, at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse, 400 North Main Street (mtd.uscourts.gov). Montana wrongful-death and survival claims can be brought in the same federal case. Appeals go to the Ninth Circuit, which also sets many of the standards these cases apply.

Montana and federal law that applies

Briefly. Our Montana civil rights and jail death lawyer page covers these standards in more depth.

• Section 1983 allows a suit against a person who, under state authority, deprives someone of constitutional rights (42 U.S.C. § 1983); a prevailing plaintiff may recover attorney’s fees (§ 1988).
• Pretrial detainees: excessive force is judged by whether it was objectively unreasonable (Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015)), and in the Ninth Circuit medical-care claims use an objective deliberate-indifference standard (Gordon v. County of Orange, 9th Cir. 2018).
• Local government liability requires a policy, custom or failure to train (Monell, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)). Individual officers may raise qualified immunity (Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982)); local governments may not.
• Montana claims: the Montana Constitution protects individual dignity and forbids cruel and unusual punishments (Art. II, § 4; § 22). State tort claims against government entities are capped at $750,000 per claim and $1.5 million per occurrence (§ 2-9-108, MCA), with no punitive damages (§ 2-9-105, MCA).
• Deadlines: generally 3 years for § 1983 and wrongful-death claims, and 2 years for state-law assault and battery claims (§ 27-2-204, MCA).

Why hire a Great Falls firm for a Butte case?

Because civil rights cases against a county are fought in federal court, often through early appeals on qualified immunity, and they require lawyers who have done that work. We are based in Great Falls and handle these cases statewide. Our attorneys travel to Butte to meet with families, review records, take depositions and appear in the Butte Division. We have no Butte office, and our jury trials have been in Cascade, Phillips, Meagher and Yellowstone Counties.

The Boland Aarab Way

• We have held a county accountable for a death in custody: a $550,000 civil-rights and wrongful-death settlement in Estate of Alexander v. Cascade County (case page).
• We know federal court: more than 40 cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana over nine years, and two Ninth Circuit arguments by Samir Aarab.
• We try cases: more than a dozen jury trials and more than 4,000 hours in the courtroom.
• Trial-bar members: AAJ, MTLA and Public Justice.

We also handle wrongful death cases in Butte and medical malpractice cases in Butte. See our Butte personal injury page.

Contact Boland Aarab PLLP for a free consultation at (406) 315-3737.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a family sue after someone dies in the Butte-Silver Bow jail? Often, yes, if the death resulted from constitutional violations or negligence. The estate may bring § 1983 and survival claims, and the family wrongful-death claims.

Where would a Butte jail death case be filed? Usually in the federal Butte Division at the Mike Mansfield Federal Courthouse in Uptown Butte.

Can we sue Butte-Silver Bow, or only the officers? Both, in some cases. Butte-Silver Bow is liable under § 1983 only for its own policies, customs or failures to train, while officers may be sued for their own conduct.

What if a private medical company provided care at the jail? The contractor and its staff may be responsible for inadequate medical care, depending on the facts and the contract.

How quickly do we need to act? Immediately, for evidence. Jail video and logs may be overwritten on short schedules. The filing deadline for most claims is 3 years.

Our attorneys: Caitlin Boland Aarab · Samir F. Aarab

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.