Previous:First Amend This!: An IDOC Newsletter, Feb. ’23
Welcome to the March edition of First Amend This!
This publication provides an insider look at issues affecting the Idaho Department of Correction community. If you wish to assist this effort, share the link, copy and paste, or print and send this issue to another.
Loved ones are encouraged to join the Idaho Inmate Family Support Group (IIFSG) on Facebook or contact the group’s admins at idahoinmate@gmail.com.
Looking to help improve Idaho’s criminal justice system? We ask that you contact Erika Marshall with the Idaho Justice Project. The Idaho Justice Project works to bring the voices of people impacted by the criminal justice system to the legislative table to work on solutions.
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Idaho lawmakers are still going hard, and it is being reported as we prepare to publish that they are not yet done discussing mandatory minimums and cutoffs for fentanyl trafficking.
Those interested in keeping current with status of all legislation will find this link helpful: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2023/
And for anyone interested in pursuing sensible solutions to our ongoing fentanyl crisis:
https://www.casebycaseid.com/no-new-mandatory-minimums-fentanyl
https://www.idahoprisonproject.org/blog/operation-esto-perpetua/
Let’s First Amend This!
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BILL TO BRING BACK THE FIRING SQUAD A SURPRISE TO CORRECTIONAL WORKERS
Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, last month introduced House Bill (HB) 186, legislation that would require Idaho prison officials to commission, in the absence of lethal injection drugs, a team of marksman executioners to extinguish the condemned.
In presenting the bill, Skaug accentuated the ineffectiveness of last year’s HB 658, which Idaho lawmakers designed to protect lethal injection drug dealers from public reprisal by ensuring their product would be supplied under a cloak of absolute secrecy: Despite the protections provided by HB 658, the IDOC’s struggle to obtain the lethal chemicals used for executions continues.
IDOC spokesperson Jeff Ray told the Idaho Statesman in an email that the Department was unaware of Skaug’s intent to propose the bill.
To fellow lawmakers, Skaug justified the push as a rule-of-law issue. “The way it stands now, they may never get those materials for lethal injections.” … “Our criminal system should work and our penalties should be exacted. When promised and deserved, the death penalty should be duly invoked.”
According to the Idaho Statesman, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General confirmed that Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador was involved in the process of coauthoring the bill.
Three days after Skaug presented it as the chair to the House Ways and Means Committee, Labrador successfully sought through Second Judicial Judge Michelle M. Evans a death warrant for Gerald Pizzuto Jr. (discussed further in the following article), despite the state lacking the lethal injection drugs required to see it through.
The Statesman further reported that Labrador’s LinkedIn profile places him in the employ of Rep. Skaug’s private legal practice for roughly three years leading up to his newly-elected position.
Should the bill pass, it will be second time that Idaho lawmakers have approved the use of a firing squad to administer capital punishment. Previously prescribed as a legal option in 1982, it was disbanded in 2009 without ever being activated.
Although four states have currently cleared high-powered projectiles as an option for carrying out executions–Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina (where the Court has ordered the state to temporarily abstain from deploying the practice)–the Death Penalty Information Center reports that only three firing squad executions have taken place in US prisons since 1976.
The State of Idaho, which changed its method of execution from hanging to lethal injection in 1978 and last performed an execution in 2012, currently keeps 8 people alive on Death Row.
When asked his thoughts while testifying last year in favor of House Bill 658, IDOC Director Josh Tewalt informed a committee of lawmakers, “I don’t think you could expect fewer legal challenges to a firing squad. And more importantly, I don’t feel as the director of the Idaho Department of Correction the compulsion to ask my staff to have to do that.”
As this article is written, HB 168 has passed the House floor and is headed to the Senate for further consideration.
Sources: Rebecca Boone, “Idaho Bill Would Bring Back Execution by Firing Squad,” Associated Press. Kevin Fixler, “Idaho Could Pursue Execution by Firing Squad,” Idaho Statesman. Clark Corbin, Idaho Matters, Boise State Public Radio.
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WEEK ONE, DAY THREE BREAKFAST
Men/Women
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Farina 1.5 cups / .75 cup
French Toast 2 or 3 slices / 2 slices
Syrup 2 oz. / 1 oz.
Margarine patties 2 / 2
Milk 8 oz / 8 oz
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THE DYSFUNCTIONAL DANCE OF DEATH WARRANTS: PIZZUTO GETS SERVED AGAIN!
Convicted in 1986 of murdering two gold prospectors during the course of a 1985 robbery, Gerald Pizzuto, Jr., 66, was on February 24 served a death warrant declaring his impending execution for the second time since November.
The warrant, issued by Second Judicial Judge Michelle M. Evans at the behest of Attorney General Raul Labrador, scheduled the execution for Mar. 23, 2023.
Upon serving the warrant, the IDOC promptly placed all execution procedures on hold–save for those required to preserve Pizzuto’s due process protections–and again sent notice informing the Board of Correction, the Governor’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General that the Department lacks the chemicals required to conform to the Judge’s order.
Pizzuto has now spent 36 years on Idaho’s Death Row, the last three terminally ill with bladder cancer, heart disease and diabetes–for which he is receiving the prison version of hospice care.
In a 2021 clemency hearing, the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole, upon considering the severity and range of Pizzuto’s medical issues, and in addition to testimony provided by his sisters (who said that as a child he was tortured at the hands of his parents), voted to commute his sentence to life without parole.
Unable to overlook the brutality of his crimes, Governor Brad Little overrode the Commission’s decision.
The IDOC’s inability to source lethal injection drugs now has state politicians pushing for the firing squad–the same method of execution that Pizzuto was denied years ago after requesting it himself.
Should legislators succeed in legalizing the firing squad as an option, it won’t become a legal form of execution until July 1, 2023, at which time the IDOC will be required to revise its current execution policy (Execution Procedures 135.02.01.001).
Presuming that Pizzuto’s healthy team of lawyers have a bit of life left in them, Idaho can expect the method, if made legal, to be challenged in the courtroom–similar to the way it now is in South Carolina, where a judge has temporarily ordered the state’s gang of executioners to lower its arms.
Sources: Idoc.idaho.gov. Rebecca Boone, Idaho Ordered To Execute Inmate But State Lacks Lethal Injection Drugs,” Associated Press. Kevin Fixler, “Idaho Could Pursue Execution by Firing Squad,” Idaho Statesman.
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WEEK ONE, DAY THREE LUNCH W/SNACK
Men/Women
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Peanut Butter 2.5 oz. / 2 oz.
Jelly 1 oz. / 1 oz.
Bread 4 oz. / 2 oz.
Fresh veggies 3 oz. / 3 oz.
Potato chips 1 oz / .5 oz
Fresh fruit 1 each / 1each
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IDAHO PRISON PROJECT: IDAHO COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT SUBSTANCE ABUSE, INSTEAD WE GOT “OPERATION ESTO PERPETUA”
An excerpt from “Governor Little’s Operation Esto Perpetua is More Drug War Nonsense,” authored by Julia Piaskowski with the Idaho Prison Project. Shared here with permission.
Operation Esto Perpetua was an embarrassing and unprofessional public relations tour of the state that did not result in usable recommendations on how to address Idaho’s fentanyl crisis.
Idaho provides minimal funding for drug treatment and mental health resources, but pours money into prisons and policing as a solution to the fentanyl crisis.
Policy changes Idaho needs to reduce fentanyl overdose deaths:
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- Fund substance abuse treatment and recovery resources
- Legalize and distribute fentanyl (test) strips
- Educate public on Narcan usage to reverse and overdose
- Stop passing bills throwing people in prison for drug use!
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Drug abuse has long been a problem in Idaho. According to the Idaho Drug Overdose dashboard, figures for overdoses indicate 846 emergency room visits for opioid overdoses in 2020 and 1,075 visits in 2021 (a 27% increase). Figures for 2022 appear to be tracking closely with previous years There has been an increase in overdoes deaths. In 2021 there were 343 statewide, compared to 287 in 2020 (a 20% increase).
Operation Esto Perpetua takes its name from the Idaho State Motto, Esto Perpetua, or may it endure forever.
While the Governor’s office has presented this as his initiative, the funding is actually provided to the Idaho State Police (ISP). Judging from their presentation made to the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee (JFAC) last legislative session, this was not intended to be a joint operation between the Governor’s office and ISP, nor was there any component to hold public meetings…
View the full report: https://www.idahoprisonproject.org/blog/operation-esto-perpetua/
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WEEK ONE, DAY THREE DINNER
Men/Women
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Corn dog 2 each / 1 each
Tossed salad 1 cup / 1 cup
Vinaigrette 1 Tbsp. / 1 Tbsp.
Beans 1.25 cups / 1.25 cups
Fruit crisp 1 piece/ 1 piece
Ketchup 2 each/ 1 each
Mustard 1 each/ 1 each
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CLEAN SLATE ACT CLEARS COMMITTEE
Introduced last month with bipartisan support, the Clean Slate Act, writes Laura Guido with the Idaho Press, would “put in place a mechanism for public records to be shielded for some who committed one offense or multiple offenses that rose from one incident.”
According to Guido, the bill applies only to those who go without reoffending for at least five years following the completion of a sentence handed down for a non-violent or non-sexual misdemeanor, or for low-level felony drug charges. It also requires a judge to cosign on an individual basis whether a person is eligible.
House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, who, along with Rep. Clay Handy, R-Burley, co-sponsored the bill, told fellow lawmakers that she worked closely with a group of Idaho prosecutors to decide who would be eligible to have their record shielded from public view.
Should the bill pass into law, studies cited during its introduction suggest that Idaho will benefit through improved public safety, as individuals whose records have been scrubbed through similar programs appear four times less likely to reoffend than others are to commit a crime.
Of course, those that do will still find their previous misgivings pulled up in the courtroom, their records hidden only from certain public-facing databases.
Source: Laura Guido, “Idaho House Committee Passes ‘Clean Slate Act’,” Idaho Press.
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FROM THE LOG OF PUBLIC RECORD REQUESTS: R007192-010323
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- Estimated daily operation cost for the anticipated 848-bed women facility.
- Number of Idaho inmates currently incarcerated at Saguaro Correctional Center.
- Number of first-time drug trafficking offenders in IDOC custody as of 12/01/22.
- Annual breakdown (from 2000-2022) of all trafficking offenders in IDOC custody.
- Annual breakdown (from 2000-2022) of the number of people convicted of a first-time drug trafficking offense and never placed in IDOC custody each year.
- Annual breakdown of all drug trafficking offenders in IDOC custody from 2000-2022. For example, # in 2000, # in 2001, # in 2002 etc.
- Average annual cost per inmate residing in an Idaho facility.
- Average daily cost per inmate residing in an Idaho facility.
- Daily cost per inmate residing at Saguaro Correctional Center for 2022.
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HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Since the start of COVID-19, the IDOC has administered over 83,585 tests to those of its clients it’s keeping in-state. More than 7,100 are reported as positive. View IDOC’s COVID report here.
The trauma treatment program announced by the IDOC last year is, by all appearances, not lifting off the launchpad anytime soon.
Staff experiencing corrections fatigue and trauma, or just curious about the types of care offered within the community, are encouraged to contact Ginger Wright, IDOC’s new staff wellness coordinator. Wright will provide you with support and guidance while pointing you toward available resources.
Residents with trauma issues are burnt.
DID YOU KNOW?
Per Solitary Watch, a study published in 2019 by the Journal of the American Medical Association “linked time spent in solitary confinement with an increased likelihood of suicide after release. Of the 229,274 participants, ‘individuals who spent any time in restrictive housing were 24% more likely to die in their first year after release, especially from suicide (78% more likely)’ than those who did not spend time in restrictive housing.”
Click here to read up on IDOC’s restrictive housing units.
Sources: idoc.idaho.gov. The Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement fact sheet #3, solitarywatch.org.
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RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Statewide — Correction POST Academy Session 91 concluded with 34 members graduating in a ceremony held at the statehouse; and 24 existing staff completed Courageous Leadership 100, a training course focused on communication, accountability, coaching and delegating.
District 2 — Dallin Warrick from Probation and Parole took Employee of the Quarter. He is recognized for playing an active role in multiple IDOC initiatives.
District 5 — 30 clients completed programs offered through District 5’s Connection and Intervention Station. Their graduation was celebrated in a ceremony held at the College of Idaho.
PWCC — Ofc. Jared Holt received the Tactical Edge Award.
ICI-O — Ofc. Robert Contreras received the Top of Class Award; Cpl. Earl Durnham was celebrated for 5 years of service.
ISCC– Sgt. Enrico Bongiovi received the Top Instructor Award; Correctional Specialist Ryan Burns has been awarded Employee of the Quarter; Program Manager Gladymar Rodriguez was awarded Supervisor of the Quarter.
Source: idoc.idaho.gov, @idcorrections on Instagram
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RENICK ON THE RADIO
With five years of episodes available for streaming, Mark Renick hosts Victory Over Sin on Boise’s KBXL 94.1FM, Saturdays at 12:30 pm. The program, funded by an advocacy arm of https://www.svdpid.org, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then come out of incarceration to live on parole.
Dave Wesley, the program director for Serving USA, last month took to the show to introduce a new educational, urban ministry program. Expected to soon debut at two south-of-Boise facilities, the program is described as an in-depth, challenging, 3.5-year Bible theology curriculum. It consists of 16 learning modules developed by World Impact and, courtesy of Serving USA, will be offered free to residents.
For more information on reentry resources available in southwestern Idaho, visit https://www.svdpid.org or email systemicchangeofidaho@gmail.com.
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RESIDENT AUDITING 101
Our wait for the following public records requests continues:
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- October’s request for the current arrangement between the IDOC, ICSolutions and JPay.
- November’s request for all payments made from prison service providers to the IDOC in 2022.
- December’s request for all grant applications and awards for pre-prosecution diversion programs and trauma invention services for staff.
- December’s request for any proposals, requests for proposals, or solicitations between the IDOC and digitized mail service providers over the last three years.
- A list and description of all apprentice programs offered to IDOC residents.
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RESOURCES FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS
Level, a federally recognized nonprofit organization, provides free printed educational, job training and personal development guides for incarcerated people. Request content at:
Level
411 W. Monroe St.
Austin, TX 78704-3025
https://learnlevel.org
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK
Date: 2-2-23
To: Irving Prime
From: Irving Esquire
Re: Issues Reported With Records and Grievances
The grievance process has changed a little with the new system, but I did receive a medical grievance back just yesterday, and I can confirm that I received typed responses in addition to copies of the original grievance and concern form. I’m having a hard time understanding how it might affect a claim to present the copies returned to us instead of the originals, so it’s hard to for me to justify presenting this as an issue.
That the documents used to support the grievance are missing is a little different story.
Hard to say for sure but it may be the reason he didn’t receive his originals back is that he was the victim of a learning curve taking place with the new offender management system, Atlas.
I’ll be able to verify from my end if it continues.
In the meantime, though he can’t submit a public records request for his own records, his family is capable of obtaining them by request. From what staff tell me, concern forms are typically held by the people they’re addressed to for, on average, a one-year period. To help the records custodian narrow in on their location, his family will want to specify that the forms were used as supporting documents for his medical grievance.
As for the delay in grievances returning from Central Office, I’ve experienced the same a number of times. And I, too, find that it usually takes a follow-up grievance to compel the person responsible for responding to take the time to do so.
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SUGGESTION BOX
Those pictures we take with our families in Visiting–how about providing our visitors with the option to receive a copy via email?
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Shout out to Sonic from IMSI A-Block! Best of luck out there, buddy…