HARDIN - We usually think of a jail as a place to lock up prisoners. Well, now the city of Hardin is locked up in a legal battle over their new detention center, and they're ready to take the issue to the next level.

On Tuesday more than 100 residents of Hardin and the surrounding area will storm the capitol in an attempt to get the governor to recognize their economic hardship. "We have a 27 million dollar facility that's empty," said Greg Smith, the executive director of Two Rivers Authority, the economic development agency that helped fund the facility.

Inside the walls of the jail, there are few signs of life. The beds are empty, the clothes are on the shelves, and all the cell doors are unlocked. "You get down once and awhile and say, 'how is this gonna happen?'" Smith said. "But I think we just keep putting our chins up and moving forward."

Smith said the jail is ready for inmates, but state officials will not send prisoners there and recent opinions from Montana's Attorney General say the facility cannot house prisoners from out of the state. "I think our government has failed us," Smith said. "The governor's the guy who can change this." With that in mind, more than a hundred people are preparing to head to the capitol on Tuesday.

"We just want to go to the capitol and make them aware of our problems here," said Marilyn Vandersloot, a resident of Hardin who will got to the capitol on Tuesday. The biggest problem is being the 4th poorest county in the United States; a problem some say will be helped when the new jail opens, bringing 105 jobs with it.

"It's just an investment for our town," she said. "There's a lot of people trying to sell their homes and are having troubles with that and it we get some employment, it'll just help the economy." Smith said it's an uphill battle, but they're willing to brave it. "We just keep fighting," he said. "We cannot stop. We owe it to the citizens of Hardin and we will fight until we can't fight anymore."

Busses will leave Hardin at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Governor Schweitzer will not be in the capitol when they arrive, but Smith said he will deliver a formal invitation to the governor's office anyway. He wants the governor to come to Hardin and visit the facility.