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| The history of private prisons in Idaho |
| By idahostatejournal.com |
| Published: 03/05/2012 |
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Sixteen years ago, all of Idaho’s prisons were owned by the state, and they were nearly chock-full. The prison population was also growing at a rapid rate, thanks to years of tough-on-crime legislation. It was clear the state needed a new prison. What wasn’t clear was how it would be paid for, and who would run it. In a 1997 paper that then-Gov. Phil Batt dubbed the “Committee of One Sentencing Study,” he noted that in 1995 there were 3200 state inmates. Just two years later, that number had grown by 28 percent to 4100. By April 1997, the Idaho Board of Correction was told by correction department officials that the prison population was increasing at a rate of about 38 inmates per month, and the state’s entire prison system only had 112 available beds, most at a northern Idaho prison designed for short-term “bootcamp” inmates. More prisoners would need to be shipped out of state soon. Batt had spent the past several months talking to lawmakers, judges and Idaho Department of Correction officials and pushing for sentencing alternatives that would get inmates for non-violent offenses out of prison quicker, making more room for the worst criminals. He also looked at ways to build the new prison, and quickly hit on privatization as his preferred solution. The Idaho Board of Correction had been preparing for the same eventuality, calling in outside consultants and workers with the state’s Division of Financial Management to research privatization possibilities. Consultant Richard Crane told the board they should have another expert come in and research how much it would cost the Idaho Department of Correction to run the facility. A review of Batt’s papers at the Idaho State Historical Archives, the board minutes from 1996 and 1997 and a search of the state’s legislative library uncovered no hint that any such expert was ever brought in. IDOC financial manager Dave Sorensen, who was part of the department’s financial division at the time, said he doesn’t remember any cost comparison study being done. Instead, former IDOC director Jim Spaulding and officials with the state’s Division of Financial Management agreed to use the cost per day figure for the Idaho State Correctional Institution. At the time, ISCI had roughly the same number inmates that the new prison was to have. The inmates were also classified as either minimum- or medium-security, the same classification levels expected for the new prison. Read More. |
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