Lewis and Clark County brings inmates back to expanded detention center
and last updated 2021-05-07 20:11:11-04
HELENA â Itâs been just over a month since Lewis and Clark County leaders announced the completion of a long-awaited expansion at the county detention center. Most of the countyâs inmates who had been at other facilities have now been moved back, but leaders say the jail still isnât operating at full capacity.
The detention center was originally to hold 80 inmates, but had become severely overcrowded in recent years. The county often had between 95 and 115 inmates in the facility. Dozens more had to be transported to other facilities, particularly the detention centers in Broadwater and Gallatin Counties.
Lewis and Clark County brings inmates back to expanded detention center
By: Jonathon Ambarian
and last updated 2021-05-07 20:11:11-04
HELENA â Itâs been just over a month since Lewis and Clark County leaders announced the completion of a long-awaited expansion at the county detention center. Most of the countyâs inmates who had been at other facilities have now been moved back, but leaders say the jail still isnât operating at full capacity.
The detention center was originally to hold 80 inmates, but had become severely overcrowded in recent years. The county often had between 95 and 115 inmates in the facility. Dozens more had to be transported to other facilities, particularly the detention centers in Broadwater and Gallatin Counties.
A Bozeman man, 20, was arrested April 28 in the Gallatin Gateway area for first offense DUI after he failed to negotiate a turn from Stucky Road onto Gooch Hill Road. Around 9 p.m. he drove into a ditch, submerged his Subaru Legacy in water, and passed out in the driverâs seat, according to court records. Although he insisted he had consumed only one Twisted Tea, his breath sample registered a 0.17. He was transported to the county jail.
n n n
A request for baby-sitting help by a Belgrade woman ended up getting her stepfather arrested for domestic assault.
On April 28 around 6 p.m., Gallatin County Sheriffâs deputies answered a call at Heights Circle in Belgrade. According to the incident report, the victim asked her mother and stepfather to care for her daughter for a bit, but when the stepfather, 51, showed up, he yelled at her and grabbed her around the throat. He was arrested for domestic assault and held at the jail without bond.
Two masks. Bars of motel-sized hand soap. A cleaning solution akin to bleach.
Those are the items Gabriel Little Dog, 45, said he received at the Montana State Prison to help fight the coronavirus behind bars.
Watching the pandemic take a grip on the rest of society struck fear inside him, he said.
“You hear on TV about people dying,” he said. He wondered if his chances were worse if he contracted the virus in confinement, inside the men’s prison in Deer Lodge. “You’re stuck … ‘If I get it will I die?’ That’s what’s going through your mind.”
BILLINGS - On March 13, 2020 the Montana Department of Corrections suspended visitation to all facilities to combat the spread of COVID-19. With coronavirus cases declining, the Montana Women s Prison has reopened for visitation.
Alicia Hoctor, an inmate at the prison, says she was lucky enough to see her family right before the visitation suspension. And I got to see my daughter for the first time as well. So it was very bittersweet and very shocking, when they re like, we re done, we can t do this anymore, Alicia said.
During the past year Alicia says she and her family have found ways to stay connected through phone calls and video chats, but it s not the same as being together in-person.