The state is ordering private prison company Correction Corporation of America to pay thousands of dollars and fix problems with drug and alcohol treatment and medical care at the Idaho Correctional Center. News from The Associated Press.

Ten of 13 drug and alcohol counselors at the prison near Boise aren’t qualified to provide treatment under CCA’s contract with the state, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Additionally, a medical audit by Idaho Department of Correction officials earlier this year shows the private prison has extensive problems administering medical care, including inadequate records; delays in providing medications, immunizations and mental health care; and a lack of follow-up or oversight when inmates are returned to the lockup after being hospitalized.

The state ordered CCA to provide it with a plan to fix the medical care problems by May 25, but the company has already missed that deadline.

Idaho is also imposing liquidated damages against CCA for violating its state contract by failing to have qualified drug and alcohol counselors. The damages rack up at a rate of more than $2,600 a day; so far, CCA owes the state more than $40,000 for the violations.

“We’re very concerned,” said Rona Siegert, director of Idaho Department of Correction Health Services. “That’s the whole purpose of the audit, to find these things before they get to a level where they’re critical.”

Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA responded to questions about the problems through a prepared statement.

“Regarding the findings of recent medical audits completed by the Idaho Department of Corrections at Idaho Correctional Center, we acknowledge and share the concerns of our government partner and take them seriously. While the identified issues are not at a critical stage, we are working actively and deliberately to quickly and effectively resolve them,” the company said.

CCA also said it is trying to hire qualified staffers for its drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

“Our efforts to recruit qualified and credentialed addiction, alcohol and drug professionals from the available pool of local candidates continue. We are confident that these efforts will result in our company being in compliance in the near term with a fully credentialed Therapeutic Community staff, as local qualified professionals seek employment opportunities.”

Company officials also said several staff members are set to undergo certification testing in the coming months. But Natalie Warner, the Idaho Department of Correction’s contract administrator and quality assurance manager, said that under the schedule CCA provided for its current employees, the last of the certifications won’t be completed until June 2011. Meanwhile, CCA will have racked up more than $100,000 in liquidated damages.

In an April letter informing the private prison company of the issues, Idaho Department of Administration purchasing officer Jason Urquhart said the Correction Department feared that the drug and alcohol program violations could increase costs for the state.

Offenders often are required to complete the Therapeutic Community program to be released, so if the program’s integrity is compromised, offenders may have to stay in prison longer, increasing costs to the state, Urquhart wrote. He went on to say that the parole commission could require offenders to take part in drug and alcohol programs at other prisons — also increasing costs.

The medical audits, completed between February and April, suggest that in many cases, inmates are going without adequate care, Siegert said. Still, Siegert said the Correction Department didn’t know of any inmates who had suffered injury or harm because of the violations.

Among other problems found in the audits, inmates in the prison’s infirmary were sometimes left alone, without any working pager or call-light system to call a nurse or doctor in an emergency. They also were going too long between medical checks by nursing staff, according to the records.

“Our requirement is that a provider makes the rounds every day to see if they’re getting better or getting worse, what their vital signs are,” Siegert said.

Medical test results also languished unread for too long, raising the possibility that serious medical problems weren’t being addressed right away, Siegert said.

If the company doesn’t repair or adequately explain the audit findings, Idaho can impose liquidated damages for those violations as well.

“It’s going to stay on our radar and we’re going to continue watching it very closely,” Warner said.

jchev CCA, Idaho, Inmate Health Care

The ripple effect of a down economy is hitting our prisons.
On Friday, the Idaho Department of Corrections announced they’ll be eliminating 24 positions. The announcement comes at a time when prison officials expect the inmate population to go up. Reported by KTVB.

“The fact of the matter is that revenue is down,” said Brent Reinke, the director of the Idaho Department of Corrections. Reinke said to balance the state budget, these 24 positions must be eliminated.

The prison is faced with having to cut $3.1 million for its fiscal 2011 budget. The cuts will come from the food service area, supervisors and a deputy chief position.

Reinke said the prison was careful not to layoff those who work directly with inmates or parolees. “We need to be vary careful we stay true to our mission of community safety,” said Reinke. “So we’ve gone to the middle management area within the department, and that’s where we are making these cuts.”

But what concerns many at the prison are the cuts made to programs that help inmates once they’re released. Those community-based programs help the mentally ill and treat others for substance abuse.

Reinke is afraid with cuts already made to those programs, the prison population could rise — and the Department said the state’s prisons are almost full right now.

“It puts people at risk and we’re liable to see an increase in our population that will exceed the 4.3 percent we have projected,” said Reinke.

But there are resources that could help. “We have a 432-bed treatment facility opening July 1,” Reinke said. “That’s going to be a tremendous help for us.”

The facility is the Correctional Alternative Placement Program (CAPP). According to lawmakers, the facility will help reduce recidivism and costly crime. Lawmakers said CAPP will save taxpayers around $29,000 per offender.

Reinke serves on the Interagency Committee on Substance Abuse Prevention. He said the committee was mindful of the cuts to health and welfare during the legislative session. He said the committee is now carefully monitoring the after-effect.

“We know working with state government, we’re going to have our peaks and our valleys,” Reinke said. “This happens to be a pretty serious valley.”

Right now, there are 7,500 inmates in Idaho prisons. IDOC also supervises about 13,800 probationers and parolees.

The elimination of these 24 staff positions will bring the total number of positions cut over the past two years to 102.

jchev Budgets, Idaho

Idaho prisons are at full capacity and facing a $2.8 million reduction in state funding in the next budget year. The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) is the third-biggest spending piece of the budget pie, eating up about 9 percent of the general fund budget, close to $150 million. IDOC would also receive more than $20 million in federal and dedicated funds. Most of the reductions will come to state prisons, but not all reductions are open for discussion. Reported in the Idaho Reporter.

“At this time, a release in inmates is not an option,” said Rep. Darrell Bolz, R-Caldwell. He worked on the IDOC budget that the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee approved Wednesday. IDOC Director Brent Reinke had said that releasing 250 inmates immediately could save the state $5 million. Idaho currently has 7,422 inmates in state and private prisons. Current projections show that rising to almost 7,700 by May 2011.

“The fact that we’re at capacity now makes it really difficult,” Reinke said about the proposed budget.

About half of the corrections budget is going to contracts with private companies that the state can’t reduce during difficult economic times. “That makes 44 percent of the total budget, and they’re basically fixed,” said Sen. Bert Brackett, R-Rogerson. “That means any holdbacks have to come out of the remaining budget.”

Contracts with the private Idaho Correctional Center in Boise will see a 3 percent increase in the next budget year. Reinke said that contracts can’t change, but that private facilities are cheaper that state prisons. “Their contract rates are so low,” he said. It costs the state $40 per day for an inmate in a private prison, and $57 per day in a state prison. Reinke said IDOC is currently bidding out a new contract for inmates’ medical services, which should save the state money.

Another area of savings will be delaying the opening of new private Correctional Alternative Placement Program (CAPP) facility in Boise. The 400-bed facility specializing in 90-day substance abuse treatment is billed as a cheaper alternative to housing inmates. It was initially scheduled to open in May, then delayed six weeks until mid-June. On Friday, JFAC moved to push that opening back to September. “There’s not a year’s worth of funding,” Reinke said. “I don’t know if we can make it by September.”

Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, spoke against pushing back the opening of CAPP. She said a lack of treatment options is a big obstacle to releasing inmates on parole on time. “The delay of this, I do worry, will only further that problem, and make it less likely that we will release inmates on time,” she said. “A lack of investment in this area will probably cost us more in the long run.” A report from the Legislature’s Office of Performance Evaluations released Feb. 25 said there are some slowdowns in Idaho’s parole process.

“A delay in education and treatment for inmates can be a delaying factor in parole,” said Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow.

State prisons would see a $6 million reduction, community corrections a $1.3 million reduction, and the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole a $135,000 reduction in the next budget set by JFAC, which starts July 1. Those would be on top of the holdbacks prisons are seeing in the current budget. Private prisons would increase $485,000, costs for placing inmates in county prisons and prisons in Texas and Oklahoma would rise $2.7 million. With the delays, costs for running CAPP would still increase $2.8 million. Bolz said even with the reductions, it’s likely that lawmakers will need to come back next year and find $2 million to $5 million in additional revenues for prisons. He called the budget set by JFAC a “target budget,” that would see some changes in the 2011 legislative session.

jchev Budgets, Idaho, Overcrowding

County efforts to entice the federal government to build a “green prison” near a Raft River geo-thermal plant were suspended Monday. Story in the Times-News.

Cassia County Commissioner Clay Handy said commissioners voted to cancel the county’s contract with consulting firm New West Strategies after the prison proposal failed to show up on any federal budget.

“You know we rolled the dice,” Handy said Tuesday. “And if you don’t play you never win.”

Cassia and Minidoka county officials co-signed the New West contract, and the counties were splitting the $5,000 monthly consulting bill. The contract required a 30-day notice of cancellation.

Minidoka County Clerk Duane Smith said Minidoka County commissioners voted to cancel the contract on Monday as well.

New West Strategies was founded by former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and Michael O. Ware, and was hired by the counties in October to lobby federal officials to bring the $300 million medium-security prison to the area. The prison would have partnered with the Raft River U.S. Geothermal Inc. plant. U.S. Geothermal officials could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

“It didn’t show up in the president’s or the House Appropriations budgets,” Handy said. “We just needed a little more assurance that it was a higher priority, for us to continue on with the contract.”

Handy said county officials spoke with the state’s congressional delegation about putting the prison in the county. Having state officials up to speed on the issue will be a plus if the opportunity is presented again, he said.

County officials will keep close tabs on any opportunities that may arise in the future, Handy said.

“It’s one of those things you have to jump on quick,” Handy said.

Handy said he doesn’t feel the right people were in place this time to swing a decision in the direction of the southern Idaho site.

“It most likely would be a political decision,” Handy said.

Handy said if federal money were in place to build a “green prison” right now, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., would probably be able to influence decision-makers to locate it in his state.

Some questioned whether Craig and his firm had enough influence with Congress to get the job done.

Steve Carpinelli, media manager for The Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., said although Craig and his senior Senate staffers could not lobby any member of Congress or congressional staff members until January 2011, employees of Craig’s firm were free to lobby.

Handy said the federal government has funded four other prisons and picked sites but construction has not begun on any of them yet.

jchev Environment and Energy, Idaho, Jail and Prison Construction

A regional jail study presented Monday to area sheriffs and county commissioners warned the wait for a new multi-county facility may take several years.  Story from the Magic Valley Times News.

That delay may only encourage Jerome County to again ask voters to approve funding a new county jail.

The Regional Offender Management Center Concept feasibility study was launched this month and is expected to conclude in September 2010.

Commissioners and sheriff’s department officials from Twin Falls, Jerome, Gooding and Lincoln counties attended the meeting, along with state Reps. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, Donna Pence, D-Gooding, and Bert Stevenson, R-Rupert.

State correction officials also attended the meeting, and indicated that local jails may serve more future use in housing state prisoners.

Consultant Robert Marsh, of Research Training Evaluation Associates of Boise, and Idaho Department of Corrections Director Brent Reinke said state inmates could be incarcerated closer to home rather than in existing state prisons. Marsh used the example of parole violators who could go to local jails rather than prisons.

A previous regional jail proposal that included participation from Jerome, Camas and Lincoln counties and the state had been targeted for Gooding. It became financially unfeasible when the state chose not to participate.

All three Jerome County commissioners recently expressed concern that the county’s needs for a jail surpasses its ability to wait several years for a regional jail, due to safety and civil liability associated with the existing 35-year-old county jail.

“I don’t see a practical solution coming out of this for several years and that is not going to meet your immediate needs,” Vaughn Killeen, former Ada County sheriff and past director of the Idaho Sheriff’s Association, told Jerome County Commissioner Joe Davidson.

The proposed Jerome County Justice Facility that would have included a new jail and sheriff’s station fell short of the state mandated two-thirds super-majority approval by just 25 votes on Nov. 3.

The ballot question asked voters to authorize the county to enter into a 30-year, $13.5 million lease-to-purchase agreement for a 165-bed jail.

Jerome County’s business plan included renting excess jail beds to other counties, producing revenue to offset lease payments and operating costs.

Twin Falls County had expressed an interest in renting jail beds from Jerome County.

Davidson said the lease-purchase plan came so close to passage during the Nov. 3 election that the county is likely to proceed with another run at voters in May.

Killeen said he hopes Jerome County succeeds.

Twin Falls County commissioners Tom Mikesell and George Urie both questioned the lengthy timeframe of the regional jail study.

“We’ve selected this area (Magic Valley) because of the interest,” Killeen said of the decision to do the study. “How do you create the funding stream to keep it running from year to year,” he asked. “Who (or which sheriff’s department) would run it?”

Killeen used the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center as an example of a multi-county jail that has proven successful since the early 1990s.

State funding issues remain an issue for state programs, Reinke said. “We are at 2004 budget levels rapidly going toward 2003,” he said.

He added that the state would need new prisons in the future and if the state were to participate in a regional facility, a minimum of between 400 and 500 jail beds would be needed.

jchev Idaho, Jail and Prison Construction

Canyon County considers a May election after Tuesday’s jail bond defeat; authorities worry about crime, and consequences with no teeth. The failure last week of a bond measure to pay for a new Canyon County jail leaves officials stymied on how to deal with overcrowding — and with a lawsuit-sparked limit on the number of inmates the jail can house. One alternative: sentence criminals to the Sheriff’s Inmate Labor Detail, like this one cleaning up trash at the Canyon County public shooting range. Complete details in the Idaho Statesman.

Local officials have long lamented the overcrowding at Canyon County’s jail. But now that the prisoner population has been capped to ward off a civil-rights lawsuit, local police and court leaders are equally worried about the toll from keeping the jail uncrowded.

“We’re letting people out of jail I really wish could be kept in jail,” said Caldwell police Chief Chris Allgood. “And most people with misdemeanors don’t even go to jail in the first place, because there’s no room.

“I believe the people who regularly commit crimes will realize they won’t be going to jail, and the deterrent will go away,” Allgood said. “Our crime rate could go back up.”

Police issue tickets or book and release nonviolent offenders who otherwise would go directly to jail. Prosecutors are seeking, and judges are granting, varied alternative sentences for crimes that earlier would have landed the perpetrators behind bars.

“My perception is, everyone is frustrated that Canyon County’s brand of justice can’t be enforced any more because the jail can’t hold the people,” County Prosecutor John Bujak said Friday, three days after voters defeated a $46 million bond measure to build a new, much bigger jail.

County leaders are considering putting the jail issue back on the ballot, possibly in May. But even if the bond had passed Tuesday, it would have taken at least two years to get the new jail up and running.

And in the meantime, the county must abide by an agreement it forged with the American Civil Liberties Union to keep the jail population within state standards. The August pact, prompted by a class-action lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions, means no more than 296 inmates in a structure that has held as many as twice that number in recent years. About 60 more can be kept in the adjacent 1940s-era jail, now known as “the annex.”

As a result of the inmate cap, local law enforcement agencies have signed agreements with the county not to jail most misdemeanor offenders.

“We’ll still take people to jail for anything violent – domestic violence, violation of protection orders,” Allgood said. “The jail has worked very well with us to take the people we bring in. They may have to make room somewhere else.”

Report continues on the Idaho Statesman.

jchev Early Release, ID Canyon County, Idaho, Overcrowding, Sentencing

The national recession is taking its toll on what had been one of the fastest-growing areas of state government spending: prisons. Even though state corrections budgets have ballooned in the past two decades amid a surging U.S. prison population, at least 23 states slashed funding for prisons this year, according to a new survey by the nonpartisan Vera Institute of Justice, a research organization based in New York. Thirty-three states responded to the survey, paid for by The Pew Charitable Trusts.  This story is from the Pew publication, Stateline.Org.

A $1 billion cost-cutting plan announced last week by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will translate into layoffs for more than a thousand state prison workers. In Oregon, a voter-approved plan to hand longer prison sentences to those who commit property crimes was delayed by state lawmakers who said they could not pay for it. Tennessee’s department of corrections has sought to save money by offering inmates less milk and meat in their daily meals. And in Kansas — which has received national attention in recent years for shifting resources from locking up prisoners to rehabilitating them — the state eliminated 85 percent of the slots in its substance-abuse treatment program for inmates, citing budget constraints.

Six states — Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and Washington — cut funding for corrections by more than 10 percent from last year’s levels, according to the study. Kansas saw the biggest recorded decrease, spending 22 percent less than it did last year.

Corrections is the fifth-largest area of state spending after Medicaid, secondary education, higher education and transportation. State spending on prisons has swelled as the nation’s jail and prison population has climbed to 2.3 million people, or about one in every 100 adults. But grim budget realities are forcing state lawmakers’ hand.

According to the Vera survey, many states are wringing savings from their correctional systems by trying to reduce the huge operational costs of running prisons — including by laying off workers, freezing their wages or cutting services to inmates. They also are exploring new ways to reduce recidivism and achieve long-term savings, in some cases easing sanctions on “technical violators” who break conditions of their parole and frequently are sent back to prison. Some states, including Colorado and Oregon, are allowing more prisoners to reduce their prison sentences through “earned-time credits” for good behavior and other forms of early release.

Some of the cost-cutting moves — using videoconferencing to avoid physically transporting inmates for court appearances, for example, and cutting back on inmates’ meal offerings — have targeted the basics of daily prison life and reaped relatively modest savings. But other changes will save tens of millions of dollars and have not come without political fights.

According to Stateline.org’s annual review of states’ legislative sessions, at least seven states — Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington — this year decided to close prisons. In some states, those plans touched off resistance among prison unions and in hard-hit communities anxious about losing even more jobs.   New York’s prison workers’ union earlier this year accused the administration of Gov. David Paterson (D) of creating “the most dangerous conditions ever” for correctional officers by closing 10 prisons and packing inmates into other facilities. In Michigan, which has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is trying to avoid closing some prisons — and laying off prison guards — by accepting inmates from California’s teeming system. Some state officials have backed the idea of housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Early releases also have caused alarm, particularly in California, where a federal panel of three judges last week ordered the state to free more than 40,000 inmates — or about 27 percent of its prison population — within the next two years to ease dangerous overcrowding. Attorney General Jerry Brown (D), who is widely expected to run for governor next year, attacked the decision and could appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The early release of thousands of inmates also is being considered in Illinois.   While some criminal justice advocates contend that early releases and other cost-cutting moves could endanger public safety, others say states have not gone far enough in cutting inmate numbers.

Some advocates say state lawmakers have avoided what they see as the “elephant in the room” — tough sentencing policies that have put many low-level offenders behind bars for longer and been a major factor behind the explosive growth in the nation’s prison population since the 1970s, when many of the laws were passed. The federal panel that ruled on California’s prison overcrowding cited sentencing laws as a factor behind the Golden State’s huge prison population.  While New York this year revised its drug sentencing laws to give judges more discretion to keep offenders out of jail, other high-profile sentencing changes in the states have been far more limited in their scope. Texas, for instance, eliminated life without parole for juveniles, a penalty that currently affects only seven inmates. New Mexico abolished capital punishment, but had only two men on death row when the bill was signed into law in March.

Washington state’s legislative session this year was “completely upside down in terms of criminal justice policy,” said state Rep. Roger Goodman (D), vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Goodman said lawmakers cut funding for the wrong programs — such as housing and other transitional services that can help ex-inmates stay out of trouble — and refused to make substantial changes to the sentencing policies that he said have put too many nonviolent and drug-addicted people in prison in the first place. Goodman explained lawmakers’ distaste for making sentencing changes this way: “There aren’t enough political points to be gained by taking this issue on. There are political points to be gained by attacking it.”

While broad changes to criminal sentencing laws remain a tough sell issue in many state capitols, corrections officials are pushing other, less controversial changes to reduce prison populations. Many states have made sick or dying inmates eligible for early parole. Other states, including Florida and Tennessee, have invested more heavily in drug treatment courts and community supervision programs in the hopes of keeping offenders from returning to prison.  “Changing sentences is a very difficult thing to do. And so we’ve gone around it,” Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard said during an annual summit of state legislators in Philadelphia last month.

jakking Budgets, California, Colorado, Early Release, Economic Issues, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington

Another batch of Idaho prisoners has returned to the state after spending time in an Oklahoma prison, reports the AP.

Officials with the Idaho Department of Corrections says another 68 inmates have been transferred back to Idaho from a private prison in Sayre, Okla. Two buses with the prisoners arrived in Boise Monday. The latest shipment leaves the department with just 120 inmates housed in out-of-state lockups. Those inmates are slated to return to Idaho by the end of the summer.

Idaho has been relying on out-of-state prisons in Oklahoma and Texas to house inmates for several years. But the state has been able to bring many back in the last year due to a declining prison population and the creation of new prison beds at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise.

jakking Idaho, Overcrowding

Idaho Department of Correction officials say a decline in the number of state inmates has made room for 130 prisoners to be brought back to the Gem State from Oklahoma.  Report from the AP.

The inmates arrived in Idaho on Monday.

Idaho has been relying on out-of-state prisons to house its inmates for a decade. But Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said in a prepared statement Monday that the criminal justice system – from the courts to the treatment providers to the parole board – are functioning more efficiently. He says that’s led to an unprecedented decline in the state’s prison population, with 100 fewer inmates in state custody compared to last July.

Now 188 Idaho inmates remain at the Oklahoma prison. They are expected to be brought back by this fall.

jakking California, Idaho, Oklahoma, Overcrowding

Report from the Lewiston Tribune:

The new Nez Perce County Jail in northern Idaho has been dedicated with events that included an open house.  The 61,675-square-foot complex that cost $19.1 million replaces an 81-year-old jail that was on the third floor of the county courthouse.  The jail was paid for by area residents who approved a half cent addition to the local sales tax.

Area residents got to see the jail Friday during the open house. The jail has about 170 beds that can be seen from two control rooms.   Deputy Jaclyn Martin says prisoners will get a minimum of privacy because safety concerns require about 130 security cameras.

jakking ID Nez Perce County, Idaho, Jail and Prison Construction

Two out of every five prison beds in Idaho would be privately run if the Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino is privatized, Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke told lawmakers Monday.

Idaho currently has only one private prison _ the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise, which is run by the Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America. ICC operates about 27 percent of the state’s prison beds.   But that percentage will steadily grow over the coming two years. The state expects to open another 628 beds at ICC by July, boosting the percentage of private beds in Idaho to 33 percent. Another 400 private beds are slated to open a year later at the new Correctional Alternative Placement Program. That would bring Idaho’s total private bed percentage to 37 percent. Idaho has more than 7,200 inmates.

Idaho Department of Correction officials announced this month they were preparing a formal request for information to see if any private prison companies would be interested in taking over the 500-bed Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino. The effort is just research at this point, not a request for companies to actually bid on the contract, said Reinke. But if the switch were made, 43 percent of the states prison beds would be privately operated.  That could make Idaho second only to New Mexico (with 44 percent) in the ratio of privatized beds, according to the most recent Department of Justice numbers, collected in 2007 …

Just under 8 percent of prison beds are run by private facilities nationwide, according to 2007 statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice. The practice appears to be most prevalent in the West, with Montana privatizing more than 38 percent of its prison beds and Wyoming privatizing more than 30 percent.  It costs about $48 a day to house Idaho inmates in state-run prisons, compared to $40 a day at the new private beds at the Idaho Correctional Center, according to the department. Housing prisoners out-of-state at private facilities is more expensive, reaching nearly $62 per inmate per day.

jakking CCA, Idaho, Private Prisons

There had been indications that 2009 was always going to be a tight money year. But the converging housing and credit crises have made the prospects that much bleaker. All across the country, States are facing huge spending cuts to rectify unbalanced budgets – and this time the problem is so severe that normally protected law-and-order budgets are facing significant cuts. Their budgets in crisis, governors, legislators and prison officials across the nation are making or considering policy changes that will likely remove tens of thousands of offenders from prisons and parole supervision.

“Prior to this fiscal crisis, legislators could tinker around the edges – but we’re now well past the tinkering stage,” said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which advocates alternatives to incarceration. “Many political leaders who weren’t comfortable enough, politically, to do it before can now – under the guise of fiscal responsibility – implement programs and policies that would be win/win situations, saving money and improving corrections,” Mauer said

In California, faced with a projected $42 billion deficit and prison overcrowding that has triggered a federal lawsuit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to eliminate parole for all offenders not convicted of violent or sex-related crimes, reducing the parole population by about 70,000. He also wants to divert more petty criminals to county jails and grant early release to more inmates – steps that could trim the prison population by 15,000 over the next 18 months.

In Kentucky, where the inmate population had been soaring, even some murderers and other violent offenders are benefiting from a temporary cost-saving program that has granted early release to nearly 2,000 inmates. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is proposing early release of about 1,000 inmates. New York Gov. David Paterson wants early release for 1,600 inmates as well as an overhaul of the so-called Rockefeller Drug Laws that impose lengthy mandatory sentences on many nonviolent drug offenders.  Policy-makers in Michigan, one of four states that spend more money on prisons than higher education, are awaiting a report later this month from the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center on ways to trim fast-rising corrections costs, likely including sentencing and parole modifications.

“There’s a new openness to taking a look,” said state Sen. Alan Cropsey, a Republican who in the past has questioned some prison-reform proposals. “What we’ll see are changes being made that will have a positive impact four, five, six years down the road.”

Safety remains a potent factor. In California, for example, the state correctional officers’ union contends Schwarzenegger’s proposals will fuel more crime.  In Idaho, a combination of budget cuts and prison overcrowding contributed to an uprising Jan. 2 in a former prison workshop that was converted into a temporary cell block. Inmates who engaged in vandalism and arson had been placed there as part of a cost-cutting effort to move other prisoners back to Idaho from more expensive quarters at a private prison in Oklahoma.

In Florida, where prisons are so crowded that the state has acquired tents for possible use to house inmates, officials say 19 new prisons may be needed over the next five years. As an alternative, Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil told lawmakers they should re-evaluate the state’s hard-line sentencing policies and look at ways to help released inmates avoid returning to prison.

As budgetary pressures worsen, some advocacy groups are concerned that spending cuts will target the very programs needed to help inmates avoid re-offending after release – education, vocational and drug-treatment programs.

“The idea that we’d cut programs and then release inmates early is a toxic combination,” said Pat Nolan, vice president of Prison Fellowship. “Just opening prison doors and letting people out with no preparation – that’s cruel to the offender and dangerous to public.”

The Council of State Government’s Justice Center has been working with 10 states to develop options for curbing prison populations without jeopardizing public safety. Tactics used in Texas and Kansas have included early release for inmates who complete specified programs, more sophisticated community supervision of offenders, and expanded treatment and diversion programs.

“There’s an unprecedented level of interest in this kind of thinking,” said the Justice Center’s director, Michael Thompson. “It’s a combination of fiscal pressure and a certain fatigue of doing the same thing as 20 years ago and getting the same return.”

But before sentencing philosophies can be adjusted and recidivism programs put in place, the economic downturn is having more immediate affects on the system and on its employees.

In Kansas, for example, a juvenile correctional facility in Atchison was shut down; and the Kansas Department of Corrections is shutting down boot camp correctional facilities in Labette County. On Friday, Washington State DOC confirmed they will be making some layoffs. On January 14th WADOC. will be meeting with the Teamsters Union to talk about program cut backs and lay offs. They hope the reduction process will be completed in February or March. WADOC wants to close unit five and either unit one or unit four at the Washington State Penitentiary and temporarily close one unit at the camp at Coyote Ridge. Also all pay raises are being frozen until further notice.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci on Friday unveiled a $6.1 billion budget for the next two years that cuts funding for prisons. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the budget is in the state Department of Corrections. Baldacci proposes closing a 90-bed unit in the state prison in Warren, a 40-bed unit at the prison in Machiasport and a 94-unit bed at the Windham Correctional Center. To save money the budget calls for shipping 118 prisoners out of state. Baldacci said they would be prisoners with little or no family members in Maine, who are serving long sentences. Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson said it costs the state $103 a day per inmate to keep them here, and would be $66 to $70 to keep them out of state. A similar proposal was rejected by lawmakers in 2007, and it could face a tough sell this time around.

In Iowa, the 1.5 percent cut in state spending ordered last month could mean layoffs in the corrections system, but the department director said Friday he hopes to avoid them with a hiring freeze on vacant positions.Iowa Department of Corrections Director John Baldwin told members of the state board of corrections that he cannot guarantee that layoffs are off the table as the department considers ways to meet its obligations under the mandatory cuts. “The goal is to not lay anyone off,” he said. “Will we be successful? I can’t tell you.” The department has stopped hiring and will leave vacant positions unfilled, he said.

In Louisiana, the DOC is one of only two agencies so far that plans layoffs to cut costs. The corrections department intends to lay off 323 of its 6,400 employees, plus dozens of student workers, to help cut $11 million from its $554 million annual budget. Seventy people hired for a new skilled nursing unit for prisoners will be let go because the facility at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel won’t expand as planned.

Citing safety concerns, the Police Benevolent Association, which represents Florida corrections officers, held a news conference in Tallahassee on Friday to speak out against the possible elimination of corrections officers jobs in the budget process.

“Since the last round of cuts, we’ve had two critical incidents in the prisons where a female officer was killed and one was sexually assaulted,” Jim Baiardi with the PBA said. “The staff’s backs are up against the wall.”

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Officials at Idaho DOC are concerned the effect reduced budgets and higher unemployment will have on their successful rehabilitation programs.

For the past few years, officials at the Idaho Department of Corrections have worked closely with the state Department of Health and Welfare, the Idaho Courts and the Commission on Pardons and Parole with one goal in mind: Reduce the state’s prison population.  It’s been working, so far. Instead of the usual 7 percent increase in new inmates entering the correction system, the prison population has grown by only 3 percent this year. But with an ever-worsening economy and hefty budget cuts pending in every state department, Idaho Department of Corrections Director Brent Reinke fears all the recent gains could be lost. “It’s not like you can just go out and say, ‘We’re going to take this and eliminate it,’” Reinke said. “The Department of Correction has a dependency on local government, our relationship with the courts, our dependency on the Department of Health and Welfare.”

Read more…

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Canyon County ID and local police have a plan to put fewer offenders in the county jail to alleviate crowding.

The county and Nampa and Caldwell police have written a proposal to book and release more people arrested by the cities’ police officers. The effort is intended to reduce the number of inmates in the county jail.  The reason: Canyon County faces a possible lawsuit from the ACLU and reduced insurance from the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program if it fails to take steps to reduce crowded conditions … The county’s main jail has about 425 inmates in a facility built for 250.  “The whole idea is to get our numbers down to whatever requests they (the ACLU of Idaho) are going to give us,” Smith said.

The book-and-release plan could be used with individuals for such offenses as speeding tickets and petty theft. It will not be used in cases of violent offenses, such as domestic violence or firearm offenses, Smith said …

Other potential measures to alleviate jail overcrowding

• Lower the cost for work release inmates from $20 to $12.50 a day. This could draw more qualifying inmates to the work release center. Commissioners are slated to consider the reduction this week.
• More use of security ankle bracelets. Some offenders waiting for sentencing could be released from jail with tracking ankle bracelets. Their jail time wait for sentencing can be as much as 10 days.

More information on this from Idaho Press-Tribune.

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This election season found voters in several locations less than happy to spend more funds on corrections:

In Yavapai County AZ, voters rejected a quarter cent tax increase for jail operations; voters in Kootenai County ID turned down a $145m bond and a half-cent tax increase intended to expand jail facilities; same result in Washington County OK for a $13m bond and a half-cent tax hike; and another rejection in Jackson County MI for a $22m jail bond; and in Portage County WI, voters refused a $72m bond to build a new justice center and jail, causing neighbouring Marathon County to call for a regional jail solution.

And all this on top of the failure in California of nearly $1 billion in additional law enforcement funding, a refusal to fund drug treatment alternatives, and a tightening of rules on parole.

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics has just released the 2005 Census of Federal and State Correctional Facilities.  The document has a wealth of data across all States, including the numbers of privately-operated facilities.

The document can be accessed from the Basic Stats list at the top right sidebar.

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About 10 percent of Idaho prisoners are serving sentences in other states because there’s not enough room for them in-State.

Idaho sent more than 400 inmates to prisons in Texas and Oklahoma in 2007, and another 700 prisoners were moved out of state in this year.  The growth in the out-of-state prison population prompted the Idaho Department of Correction to develop the Virtual Prison Program last year and assign a dozen officers to monitor these inmates from a distance.  However, state officials say bringing inmates back to Idaho is a priority.  Brent Reinke, director of the state Department of Correction, says moving prisoners out of state results in higher costs for Idaho and cause an inconvenience for the families of inmates.

jakking Idaho, Overcrowding

Idaho DOC is going online to help comabt gang recruitment.

Gangs run a fierce PR campaign to recruit your kids in Idaho. It’s splattered on walls, the airwaves, even the internet.   “Hanging out with the homies, that’s fun!” Tim Higgins, the IDOC’s gang expert said. “Girls,cars nice money. All these rappers can’t be wrong.”  But there’s a side of gang life that most kids don’t see. Higgins said hard core gang members end up in prison, the hospital or the morgue.   “That’s the only place that a gang life style’s going to lead to. No other place,” Higgins said.  The Department of Corrections launched a website of it’s own, idahogangs.com. It has almost everything law enforcement knows about gangs in the Gem State.

The purpose is to educate parents on what to look out for, and to be a conduit for more information coming in to the gang investigators.

For more information see 2News.tv

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As reported by Associated Press:

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter has abandoned legislation to completely privatize Idaho’s new prisons, relenting to lawmakers who weren’t ready to let somebody else take control the state’s correctional facilities. Otter said today that Idaho still needs a prison, but that he’ll accept an arrangement in which the state owns the building and contracts with a private company to operate it. That’s similar to the existing arrangement at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise.

More details at Forbes.

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State governments, facing leaner budgets this year as the national economy struggles, are exploring strategies to contain surging prison populations without building costly new correctional facilities, according to a report released this Wednesday (Jan. 23).

At least 18 states took steps last year to free up space at overcrowded prisons, prevent recidivism and otherwise stem the rising costs of corrections, according to “The State of Sentencing 2007,” a review of last year’s major criminal justice trends in the states. Actions included amending or agreeing to study sentencing or parole policies, expanding inmate rehabilitation programs and tweaking other criminal justice practices. The study was conducted by The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization that pushes for the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences and other changes to state and federal criminal justice policies.

According to the report, four states (Arkansas, California, Nevada and Wisconsin) in 2007 approved the early release of some low-risk prisoners. In Nevada, for example, lawmakers expanded “good-time credits” to let some inmates return to society. California legislators granted local jail administrators the power to release some offenders convicted of misdemeanors. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this month announced a much broader plan to release as many as 22,000 low-risk offenders from CDCR’s crowded prison system to rein in spending by the state Department of Corrections. California is facing an overall budget shortfall of more than $14 billion over the next year and a half.

The study identified four states (California, Hawaii, Louisiana and Washington) that last year expanded “re-entry services” to help inmates transition to life outside prison and ensure they don’t return. As many as half of those behind bars return to prison within three years of their release, the report said. Meanwhile, three states (Colorado, Maine and Nevada) set up panels to study the effectiveness of current sentencing practices, while two other states (New Mexico and Pennsylvania) directed existing commissions to study specific aspects of their sentencing schemes, such as use of mandatory minimums.

Taken together, last year’s state laws represent a shift in thinking among lawmakers, according to the report. “Although legislative sessions seldom close without some penalty enhancements being added to the criminal code, the tone and focus of many state legislative bodies has demonstrably shifted and, as a result, there is increasing opportunity for reform,” the report said. In an interview, the study’s author, Ryan King, said state lawmakers are more willing to change criminal justice policies because of the financial pressures states are under. Corrections trails only health care, education and transportation in taking state dollars. “There’s simply not enough money in state budgets,” King said. “That has brought a lot of legislators to the table with a willingness to look at alternatives (to building prisons).”

There are signs states will continue to seek alternatives to prison construction this year. In his State of the State address Jan. 7, for example, Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter proposed converting a warehouse to a 304-bed rehabilitation center to help inmates with drug and alcohol problems to ensure they don’t break the law again.

The Report is stored in the Library under “Basic Resources”.

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