GREAT FALLS — There have been escalating safety concerns across Montana regarding the smuggling of drugs into correctional detention facilities.
Montana House Bill 605 would aim to amend the current strip search regulations.
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“Back in 2013, legislature passed a bill that basically said unless we had reasonable suspicion, we could not strip search misdemeanors. Well-intended bill, I fundamentally agreed with it conceptually. I believe that, if you do a very low-level crime, you likely shouldn't have to need to be strip-searched," Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter explained. "However, the criminal element and criminal organizations in our community and inside of our jails have now exploited that.”
House Bill 605 would allow strip searches of individuals who will be held in a jail or correctional facility for more than 12 hours.
“It’ll make it much more difficult to sneak in drugs; and usually, it takes about 12 hours on a misdemeanor before someone goes into the general population," said Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki.
According to Sheriff Slaughter, a majority of the drugs getting into the Cascade County Detention Center are through misdemeanor offenders who choose to not post bail, in order to get through to the general population and spread the drugs.
“Everybody inside the Cascade County Detention Center is innocent until proven guilty,” said Slaughter. “Yes, this is an invasive search technique that I wish didn't have to be used on misdemeanors, but we don't live in that world anymore. And with fentanyl being so prolific and being out there, I think we have a responsibility to all of the other innocent until proven guilty inmates who this drug could be distributed to and they could suffer serious bodily injury or death.”
The Cascade County Detention Center has confiscated various drugs in recent incidents; however, a lot of the time the drugs are already spread out and harming the inmates by the time staff catches them.
Both Slaughter and Racki believe this bill could address these safety concerns.
“The bill is being put forward by Rep. George Nikolakakos; it will be heard Wednesday morning at 8:00 and me and Sheriff Slaughter are going to go down there to testify in support of that bill,” added Racki.
We also tried to contact the American Civil Liberties Union for a statement regarding this bill but have not heard back from them at this time.
