Details emerge about downtown Havre escapee

Three weeks after he fled from custody of Fort Belknap Detention Center personnel while being transported through downtown Havre, answers have begun to slowly surface about escapee Gabriel Arkinson.

However, despite repeated calls and inquiries by the Havre Daily News, Fort Belknap tribal police, courts, authorities at the reservation’s detention center and those in the upper echelons of tribal government have said they lacked the knowledge, or simply have been unwilling to respond to questions.

The bulk of the information known so far have been divulged by Arkinson and his attorney.

Arkinson, 29, of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation is being housed at the Valley County jail in Glasgow while his case is pending in the Fort Belknap Tribal Court system, according to the Valley County jail roster and Joe Hardgrave, an attorney with the Montana Legal Services Association who is representing Arkinson.

The prisoner prompted a lockdown of schools and other buildings in Havre Nov. 17, spurring a street-by-street manhunt, when he slipped away from detention center personnel. He was discovered about two hours later in the bathroom shared by the Western Pharmacy and the U.S. Social Security office on 5th Avenue.

Fort Belknap officials have yet to say how Arkinson escaped from their custody and what measures are be taken to ensure he does not take flight again.

Hill County Attorney Gina Dahl said Monday that because Arkinson was in the custody of Fort Belknap when he took flight, the county will be unable to prosecute him. Whether such charges will be brought up against him, Dahl said any escape charges will be handled by Fort Belknap officials.

“Unfortunately, our hands are kind of tied on that,” said Dahl.

Arkinson appeared in Fort Belknap Court on Dec. 3 where a trial date of Feb. 17 was set.

Hardgrave said Arkinson, who has been in state prison before on unknown charges, now faces charges of attempted murder, assault on a peace officer, attempted aggravated assault, two counts of criminal endangerment, criminal mischief, injury to public property, careless driving, reckless to elude, DUI and driving with a suspended or revoked driver’s license.

The attempted murder charges have to do with the police officers pursuing Arkinson.

Arkinson is also being charged for an Oct. 31 attempted escape from Fort Belknap Detention Center.

Arkinson is pleading not guilty on all the charges, said Harkinson

The charges stem from a June 25 incident on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, when Arkinson was stopped by police for driving too close to a car. In a letter written to the Havre Daily News, Arkinson said he had be en route to Billings along with girlfriend, Heather Bradford, at the time. He said that because there was a beer bottle in the back of his car at the time, he sped away rather then stopping for police.

A chase ensued, with both Arkinson’s vehicle and those of reservation law enforcement sustaining damage. Eventually, Arkinson said, the pursuit ended when officers laid spike strips that immobilized his vehicle. He and Bradford were then taken into custody.

Arkinson said, and his attorney confirmed, that Bradford took a plea deal on the same charges.

Attempted murder and the other charges would normally constitute felonies, however the FBI directed the newspaper to Fort Belknap police and tribal courts, saying the case was being handled by Fort Belknap. Traditionally felonies on reservations are handled by FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office. An offical from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Helena said they were unaware of the case.

Hardgrave speculates that in this instance the charges might not be a prosecuted as a felony since nobody was injured. He said that while the charges are technically attempted murder, the crimes in fact, are really more comparable to a car chase.

In his letter to the newspaper, written without the input and knowledge of his attorney, Arkinson said the attempted murder charges against him are “trumped up” and said his rights were violated by Fort Belknap Detention Center staff.

He said reservation authorities are bringing false charges, such as attempted murder, against him to send a message to dissuade outsiders from breaking the law on the reservation.

“Just because I’m not from around Belknap (I’m from Rocky Boy) they want to make a behind the scenes statement for the ones who break ‘their law,’” said Arkinson.

He alleges Fort Belknap authorities have mistreated him by violating his rights. Arkinson said he was prohibited from making legal phone calls for his first week in custody or sending letters. He also said that jail staff have confiscated bibles from the prisoners as punishment.

Fort Belknap has refused to comment about these allegations and Arkinson’s attorney said he had not heard about such claims.

Arkinson also said he has been relocated several times since his arrest in June. His attorney said in that time he has spent time at detention facilities at Fort Belknap, Rocky Boy, Browning and now Glasgow at the Valley County Detention Center.

Hardgrave said that the movement of prisoners falls under the purview of his jail staff and is not uncommon.

Arkinson said his escapes were carried out as a way to bring attention to what he says is corruption on Fort Belknap.

He said that while Bradford, who faced the same charges as he does accepted a plea deal, if offered he will not.

“I know I’ll get at least two years for that,”he wrote, “but, what is two years if I can help hundreds of natives on the rez who experience all the corruption and injustice in Belknap’s system and possibly help shape it up?”