At least three inmates at the Cascade County Detention Center tested positive for hepatitis C after they were served food contaminated with a kitchen worker’s blood in September, according to a lawsuit and reported by Montana Free Press.
The case, filed earlier this month by 27 inmates, claims that employees of the jail’s food service vendor told kitchen staff not to dispose of the contaminated food and that inmates could “scoop around” the blood.
The lawsuit names the food service vendor, Summit Correctional Services, and five unnamed employees as defendants.
Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said at a news conference in October that while meals were being prepared for inmates at Station 2 in K, J, H, and G Blocks, an inmate who was helping to serve meals in coordination with SCS accidentally contaminated a serving tray of pasta with human blood from a nosebleed.
First report - October 8, 2025:
A detention center inmate worker immediately tried to dispose of the contaminated food to prevent further risk of exposure.
Sheriff Slaughter said that the SCS kitchen supervisor stopped the inmate from discarding the food, reprimanded the inmate, and returned the contaminated tray to the serving line.
The supervisor then placed utensils in the contaminated tray and instructed inmates to “scoop around” the blood-contaminated food while continuing meal service.
The Sheriff's Office was not notified about the incident until two days later, after the contaminated meal had already been served to inmates housed in the affected blocks. No other housing units were impacted.
The inmate with the nosebleed was positive for hepatitis C, and the testing of inmates began after the incident. Court documents say that “some of the plaintiffs have since tested positive for the first time in their lives with hepatitis C.” The documents said that they’ve experienced “jaundice, weight loss, confusion and fatigue” as a result.
Tim Bechtold, a Missoula-based attorney for the inmates, told Montana Free Press on Monday that three people have tested positive for hepatitis C since being exposed to the contaminated food. Testing is ongoing for the other inmates.
