"In the shadow of abuses at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, it's disheartening to see a national report on abysmal conditions at jails and prisons in Indian Country, including in Montana.

It would be unfair to compare the two things directly -- no one is accusing the jailers on Indian reservations of anything remotely resembling the abuses to which Iraqi inmates were subjected.

But conditions themselves -- lack of even rudimentary sanitation efforts, overflowing toilets, inadequate drinking and washing water, and filthy and overcrowded conditions -- constitute a kind of abuse that must be investigated and rectified sooner rather than later."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Upgrading reservation jails should be priority (The Great Falls Tribune 5/27)

Indian Country Jail Reports:
Year 2002 | Year 2001 | Year 2000 | Years 1998-1999

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