Jail Change Allows Hess To Be Near Family

Moscow resident Janice Hess, serving one year in jail for three counts of vehicular manslaughter, has been moved to the Latah County Jail at her family’s request.

Hess was sentenced to one year in the Kootenai County Jail for the December 1993 deaths of Howard Monhatwa, 25, Justina Nomee, 5, and Amadee Nomee, 18 months.

They were killed when an intoxicated Hess drove her vehicle across the center line of U.S. Highway 95 and crashed into the Monhatwa vehicle.

Prisoners are allowed to serve time in counties other than the one in which they were sentenced, if there is room and they can pay for their housing costs, said Sgt. Jim Loyd, jail commander. In Latah County, prisoners switching from other counties are charged $40 per day, he said.

In some cases, other counties pay to rent Latah County jail space because their jails are crowded, he said.

Hess will be required to serve the rest of her one-year sentence in the Latah County Jail, but will be allowed work-release status for the last three months. Hess will be allowed to leave jail to work, but must return to the jail each night.