Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Road Court topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Missoula’s Road Court offers treatment alternative for misdemeanor DUI offenders
Summary
Justice of the Peace Landy Holloway told Missoula County commissioners that Road Court is an evidence-based, voluntary misdemeanor-DUI treatment program (since 2018) that can waive jail time, reduce fines, use monitoring and treatment, and has produced 93 graduates.
Justice of the Peace Landy Holloway described Road Court, Missoula County’s treatment-focused program for misdemeanor DUI offenders, during a podcast with the Missoula County commissioners. The program, which began in 2018, pairs court supervision with chemical-dependency treatment, monitoring and a structured incentives-and-sanctions system intended to reduce repeat impaired driving.
Holloway said Road Court (Responsibilities, Opportunities, and Accountability for Drivers) targets misdemeanor DUIs—typically second or subsequent offenses or traffic incidents involving substance impairment—and runs on a five-phase model over about 12 months (sometimes up to 18 months). Enrollment is voluntary: participants must agree to treatment and supervision in exchange for program benefits.
“Holloway said that ‘all of their jail time could be waived and up to 70% of their fines’ for participants who complete the program,” the commissioners noted. Program requirements include reporting to a misdemeanor probation officer, undergoing a chemical-dependency evaluation (Missoula contracts with Stepping Stones Behavioral Health), and for the first 90 days wearing a continuous alcohol monitor on the ankle. Participants also face random urine analyses (UAs) to detect multiple substances.
Holloway described a multidisciplinary team that supports Road Court decisions: a county court coordinator, a contracted defense attorney, law-enforcement representatives from the Montana Highway Patrol and sheriff’s office, treatment providers from Stepping Stones, misdemeanor probation officers, and a prosecutor from the county attorney’s office. She said the program has secured “well over” $1 million in grant funding across its history to support services.
The program uses a sanction grid and therapeutic responses when participants relapse, she said, pairing accountability with treatment rather than default incarceration. Holloway reported 93 graduates over roughly nine years and said graduations have been a visible sign of the program’s benefits—improvements in health, employment and family stability among participants.
Looking forward, Holloway told the commissioners she and partners are advocating for a felony-level DUI treatment court to sit in district court; under Montana law a fourth or subsequent DUI is a felony. She said Road Court’s experience has helped push that conversation forward.
Holloway and the commissioners said the program remains dependent on grant funding and team members’ time; she encouraged continued county support and training to expand treatment-court capacity.
The Road Court discussion closed with an invitation to observe a session and with Holloway offering to share more detail about the team and evaluation results at a future county forum.
