Opinion ID: 883993
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: issues

Text: Did the District Court err in failing to release Collier or transfer her to a different detention facility due to conditions at the Cascade County jail? The District Court denied a motion to release Collier or transfer her to a different detention facility. The court determined that conditions at the Cascade County jail were not so deficient as to require a transfer. The State contends that Collier waived her right to appeal this issue when she pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal endangerment. However, we have already established that specific language in the plea agreement reserved Collier's right to appeal this and other issues. Collier contends that detaining her in the Cascade County jail was a violation of § 7-32-2222, MCA (1993), which states, in part: Health and safety of prisoners. (1) Each detention center must comply with state and local fire codes for correctional occupancy and with sanitation, safety, and health codes. Collier maintains that the Cascade County jail was not in compliance with state and local fire codes or with sanitation, safety, and health codes. Amy MacKenzie, a sanitary consultant with the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, inspected the jail in June and December 1993 and again in May 1994. At the hearing on Collier's motion for release or transfer to another detention facility, MacKenzie testified that although the Cascade County jail was not in 100 percent compliance with the guidelines established by her office, the jail was not an imminent health hazard nor was it a public nuisance. Moreover, her office was working with jail staff to continually improve the conditions at the jail. Mel Shultz, a detention officer with the Cascade County Sheriff's Office, testified that some of the unsanitary conditions that Collier complained of were caused by Collier herself. Shultz testified that Collier would leave uneaten food in her cell for long periods of time and that she would refuse to exchange dirty coveralls for clean ones, sometimes wearing the same coveralls for up to a month. Accordingly, we conclude that Collier has failed to establish that conditions at the Cascade County jail were so deficient as to require her release or transfer to another detention facility and we hold that the District Court did not err in denying her motion. Affirmed. TURNAGE, C.J., and GRAY and LEAPHART, JJ., concur.