The Montana Department of Corrections and Cascade County have both responded in court to the legal debate over transporting about two dozen inmates who have been sentenced to state custody from the county jail.

Earlier in the month, the county filed motions requesting 24 inmates be transported from the county jail to state custody since they had been sentenced. The same day, Gov. Steve Bullock issued a directive halting any transfers into state custody.

Legal dispute between county, state over transfer of inmates sentenced to state prison from county jail continues

The following day, a district court judge signed orders mandating transport from county jail to state custody in 11 of those cases.

DOC objected and the judge gave DOC until April 14 to respond to several questions.

County still waiting on state to transfer inmates to state custody, unsure how Bullock directive will impact transfer

On April 14, DOC responded and asks again that the court vacate the prior transfer orders since transfers may relieve overcrowding in the Cascade County jail, but would shift the burden to other parts of the corrections system “while disrupting the DOC’s operations and increasing the difficulty of managing offenders. Moreover, every single transport multiplies the amount of close contacts with each inmate, provides a new window of opportunity for COVID-19 to spread from one facility to another, and requires the receiving facility to use space allocated for mandatory 14-day quarantines.”

Bullock issues directive suspending transfers of inmates to DOC custody shortly after Cascade County sought transfer of 24 inmates

In the DOC response, the lawyers argue that in the case of several inmates, they had other charges pending, were awaiting admission to various treatment programs or other screening to determine appropriate placement.

When Cascade County seeks to relieve its overcrowding in its jail through a court order, the overcrowding does not disappear, but adversely impacts the entire corrections system, disrupting the DOC’s operations and adding to the already complex management of offenders from throughout the state,” according to the DOC response.

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In some cases, moving Cascade County inmates now, would bump inmates in other counties also in line for various programs, the DOC argues.

DOC argues that the court has sentenced some of these inmates to the appropriate facilities or programs, but that leaves DOC with the discretion to determine which is most appropriate and not for the court to now dictate.

In the county’s response on April 17, County Attorney Josh Racki wrote that, “the DOC’s blanket ban on not transferring inmates due to COVID-19 is failing to address cases on an individual basis. While certain DOC inmates are awaiting treatment, with the current ban in place, even if a bed date opens, that inmate will not be transferred. That inmate will have to wait for an undetermined amount of time before receiving valuable treatment. Not to mention, numerous defendants have expressed wanting to move on with their sentence and leave the CCDC. The defendants who have been sentenced to the DOC are members of our community. Because the defendants have unresolved issues such as mental health.
chemical dependency, and safety concerns, they should not be released into any community at this time. The Judges have sentenced the defendants and they have
the right to move on with their sentence. Staying at the CCDC under this blanket ban is not going to accomplish overcrowding or maintaining COVID-19 numbers.”