Court Opinion

ID: 9588167
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:31:08.24022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:25.424153
License: Public Domain

On Denial of Petition for Rehearing
The respondent, State of Idaho, has requested a rehearing in this case on the basis that the Court did not adequately set forth in this opinion what constitutes a jail. The appellant in his appeal claimed that the windows allegedly broken by the appellant were not parts of a public jail, since a hallway separated the cell where appellant was confined from the wall containing the windows. We stated in our opinion, however, that injury to a jail was a more serious offense, a felony, than malicious injury to other real or personal property, a misdemeanor, and that this was a reasonable classification. The basis for *547this holding was set out in the opinion as “Where a window is broken, as in this case, pieces of glass may be easily concealed on an individual’s person; various dangerous uses can be made of it — e. g., as a weapon for attacking guards or other prisoners, or as an implement to effect an escape.” When we used the term “jail” in the opinion, we used the term in its generally accepted meaning: “A building designated by law, or regularly used for the confinement of persons held in lawful custody.” Black’s Law Dictionary, rev. 4th ed. 1968, p. 968. A jail is more than a row of cells standing alone; in addition to cells, a complete public jail must, of necessity, also have hallways, access routes to the cells, a roof, walls, windows, and doors. The Petition for Rehearing is denied.