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| Idaho Correction Chief Tells Lawmakers Riots Could Result from Budget Cuts |
| By Idaho Statesman |
| Published: 02/24/2003 |
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Additional budget cuts could make the Idaho prisons vulnerable to riots and even federal intervention, the director of the Department of Correction warned legislators. 'We're on the verge of cutting too much,' Tom Beauclair told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee last week. Beauclair said his department has dismantled most of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne´s substance abuse programs that had been funded before the economic bust. That means prisoners are staying in prison longer, receiving less treatment, and the chance of them returning if and when they´re set free is greater. The agency has streamlined all it can, and the next cuts, if any, will be dramatic. 'I think you have to close a prison and at the same time releasing that many inmates,' he said. Lawmakers are trying to do what they can to close a $200 million budget deficit in the next fiscal year. At the same time, a parade of agency bosses, including Beauclair, have been warning the budget-writing committee that state agencies can´t tolerate another round of cuts. Legislators have not specifically targeted the Department of Correction, but during the hearing, lawmakers were clearly interested in finding the agency´s pain threshold. Beauclair said the governor´s $115.3 million budget recommendation for the upcoming fiscal year will pose problems, including increased security risk for both staff and inmates, the continuation of reduced education and fewer treatment options. Until now, the state´s 5,800 prisoners have done little more than grumble, although in one instance, inmates refused to return to their cells when ordered, he said. Inmates are typically on their best behavior in the fall and winter. Legislators may also tinker with sentencing reforms this winter, and Kempthorne has indicated he may put forth his own proposal to keep Idaho from having to build new prisons in the coming years. Idaho Falls GOP Rep. Lee Gagner said he may introduce a measure to cut the department´s budget by $2 million, directing that money instead into drug courts that could keep people from re-entering prison on a drug charge. Gagner believes the state would ultimately save money under such a plan. |
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