Lake County reaches settlement in jail lawsuit

The federal court in Missoula gave final approval Nov. 21 to a settlement between the inmates of Lake County Jail and jail administrators.

The class-action lawsuit settled last week was initiated in 2021 by an inmate named Aloysius Blackcrow, and expanded to include close to 50 other inmates.

Under the agreement, Lake County has agreed to implement several major changes, including adopting new policies and procedures and building both an outdoor recreation area and additional inmate housing units.

“This agreement is a victory for inmates at the Lake County Jail and for the entire community,” wrote Constance Van Kley, attorney for plaintiffs, in a press release announcing the settlement. “No one should be forced to live without sunlight, fresh air, and the opportunity to exercise.”

The jail is located in the basement of the Lake County Courthouse. While the detention center has undergone some renovations in recent years, inmates have no direct access to fresh air or natural light and crowding has been a persistent issue.

“Today marks a significant step toward a more humane Lake County Jail,” said Van Kley.

In 2021 and 2022, dozens of individual inmates filed lawsuits challenging the conditions of confinement at the Lake County Jail as unconstitutional. After the court consolidated those claims and certified the case as a class-action lawsuit, the inmate class argued that the jail was overcrowded and that they were deprived of exercise and fresh air for weeks at a time.

Under the agreement, Lake County must construct a secure outdoor recreation area of approximately 1,500 square feet of space for the use by inmates and add approximately 960 square feet of inmate housing.

In addition, the county is required to “make best efforts to separate female inmates by classification,” referring to the security level various inmates require.

Under the agreement, the county must also continue to allow inmates regular access to a Native American religious leader. Salish and Kootenai and Blackfeet tribal inmates had alleged that the jail had allowed a Christian pastor to regularly visit the jail but provided no similar access for them.

The settlement also orders the county to pay the plaintiff’s legal costs, which amount to nearly $190,000.

County Commissioner Bill Barron said the county has already taken steps to comply with the agreement in conjunction with construction of a new annex to house various county offices. The resulting courthouse renovation calls for the election office, currently located in the basement of the courthouse and slated to move to the annex, to be remodeled into approximately 900 square feet of additional inmate housing. Meanwhile, construction is slated to begin on an outdoor recreation area next spring.

According to Barron, the area in the jail that’s currently used as an exercise space will be converted to additional beds for female inmates. Overall, the remodeling project aims to increase cell space from around 46 beds to 64, which he said should significantly ease crowding in the jail.

This marks the second lawsuit brought against Lake County over conditions in the jail. In 1995, inmates won a lawsuit against the county that stated the jail was violating the due process of law, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and withheld the free exercise of religion.

Jail crowding and PL 280

The county has maintained that overcrowding at the jail is caused, in part, by its obligations under Public Law 280 to prosecute felonies committed in Lake County involving members of all federally recognized tribes. The county formally announced its intention to pull out of the agreement last week.

According to Barron, that move will help ease crowding at the jail.

“Right now, at least 50% of our jail population is due to Public Law 280, and often it's as high as 80%. And that won't be the case anymore,” he said.

In the future, the State of Montana, the other signatory in the agreement, will be responsible for prosecuting felonies committed by tribal members and housing inmates.

“We're not going to see a big drop in the budget for law enforcement or in jail right now, but it'll level off, instead of going up and up and up every year,” predicted Barron.

“None of us are excited about getting out of Public Law 280, but we just don't feel we have a financial alternative to it,” he added.

The county commissioners are holding a public meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, to discuss the exit strategy from PL 280.

“We want to get all the questions so we can start looking at them and dealing with them,” he said. “We're just going to try to prepare the best we can on our end.”