Previous: First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, June ’23
Welcome to the July 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 Erica 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
The good, the bad, the ugly, and the beginning of a new food service menu that is mysteriously absent of tears…
Let’s First Amend This!
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HOW SHOULD IDAHO HANDLE ITS $218M OPIOID SETTLEMENT?
In a series of opinion pieces published in the Idaho Statesman, Scott McIntosh explores potential applications for Idaho’s $218 million share of the $54 billion national opioid settlement. Multiple opioid manufacturers and distributors have been ordered by the courts to pay for the harmful practices they used to sell their deadly products.
(McIntosh’s series starts here: “Millions of Dollars Coming to Fight Opioid Epidemic. Where Is the Money Going?“)
Idaho’s Office of the Attorney General website states that the funds will be distributed in accordance with the Opioid Settlement Intrastate Allocation Agreement over the course of 18 years. The agreement includes 44 counties, 24 cities, 7 regional health districts, and an unspecified number hospital, fire and school districts.
In a podcast with Logan Finney from Idaho Public Television, Court administrator Sara Omundson, Director of Health and Welfare Dave Jeppsen, and Deputy Attorney General Stephanie Guyon encourage those closest to the crisis to visit BehavioralHealthCouncil.idaho.gov or email IBHC.dhw.idaho.gov, to involve themselves in recommending how the settlement should be used.
Additional sources: www.ag.idaho.gov. Logan Finney, “Help Idaho Address the Opioid Crisis,” Idaho Reports.
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WEEK ONE, DAY ONE BREAKFAST (MAINLINE)
[Serving sizes may vary by gender.]
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1 pc — Chuckwagon patty
1 cup — Farina
8 oz. — Milk 1%
3 oz. — Biscuit
.75 oz. — Country breakfast gravy
2 pckt — Sugar
8 oz. — Vitamin beverage
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
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PRISON SERVICE PROVIDERS PISS IN LOCAL PRESS POOL
While interviewing subjects for his series on how Idaho should spend its portion of the national opioid settlement, Scott McIntosh found himself subjected to the same unhealthy stressors that private corporations, along with sheriffs and prison officials, have for years profited from imposing upon incarcerated persons and their loved ones.
See: Scott McIntosh, “Idaho Prisoners and Their Families Get Ripped Off Just for Making a Phone Call,” Idaho Statesman.
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DEATH OF IMSI RESIDENT
Kaitlyn Hart with East Idaho News covers the story of Junior Alex Garcia, 26, who passed away in the hospital on June 18th following a violent incident at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.
See: Kaitlyn Hart, “Prison Inmate Beaten to Death was from Idaho Falls,” EastIdahoNews.com
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WEEK ONE, DAY ONE LUNCH (MAINLINE)
[Serving sizes may vary by gender.]
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1.5 oz. — Peanut butter
.5 oz. — Jelly
2 oz. — Wholegrain bread
1 — Fresh fruit/banana
1 — Weekend muffin
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
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IDOC’S PROGRESS IN PREPPING TO LEAD-PEPPER ITS CLIENTS
As the supplier-induced drought of lethal injection drugs continues, the firing squad has once again become legal as a secondary option for conducting executions in the desert south of Boise.
Angela Kerndl with Boise’s CBS2 News covers the Department’s progress on preparing for the upcoming Days of Reckoning:
Idaho Department of Correction officials say it’s reviewing policies from other jurisdictions to develop an understanding of what’s needed for the infrastructure. The policies and procedures they develop will serve as the foundation for the design of a facility, a spokesperson for IDOC said.
The Florida-based ammo maker Liberty Ammunition has reportedly reached out to the IDOC with an offer to sponsor upcoming executions with free ammunition.
With the editorial board for Idaho Statesman questioning how fiscally conservative it was of the Idaho Legislature to allot $750,000 for the Department to fortify a venue for the firing squad to operate, Kerndl is reporting that South Carolina has succeeded in staging theirs for the paltry comparative sum of $53,000–but she leaves it unclear in her coverage whether corporate sponsorships helped offset the cost.
Sources: Angela Kerndl, “Where is IDOC at in Establishing a Firing Squad Facility?” IdahoNews.com. Chris Eger, “Ammo Maker Offers Donation for Idaho Firing Squads,” Guns.com. Editorial Board, “Let’s Be Honest About the Death Penalty in Idaho: Revenge Killing Despite the Cost,” Idaho Statesman.
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WEEK ONE, DAY ONE DINNER (MAINLINE)
[Serving sizes may vary by gender.]
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3 oz. — Chicken Filet
2 oz. — Wholegrain Bread
1 slice — Lettuce
1/2 cup — Three Bean Salad
1/2 cup — Pineapple Slaw
.5 oz. — Cheese
1 oz. — Ham
1 piece — Apple Spice Cake
8 oz. — Vitamin Beverage
1 pkt — Mayonnaise
1 pkt — Mustard
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
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WHY DEFENSE LAWYERS IN IDAHO’S CRAZIEST CRIMINAL CASES ARE BARRED FROM PRESENTING INSANITY AS A DEFENSE
Idaho is one of four states –along with Montana, Utah and Kansas– that prohibit criminal lawyers from presenting insanity as a defense, regardless of their clients’ capacity to understand their crimes or commit them with intent.
Scott McIntosh, in another opinion piece for Idaho Statesman, reports that former Idaho attorney general David Leroy explained during a telephone interview “that the insanity defense was being abused and overused, and defense and prosecuting attorneys were hiring their own psychiatrists to prove or disprove whether mental illness played a part in crimes, leading to trials that became expensive spectacles.”
Solitary Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that reports as a public watchdog on the abuses experienced within solitary confinement, shares in a 2022 fact sheet that “a 2014 Treatment Advocacy Center report found that more than 350,000 individuals with severe mental illnesses were being held in U.S. prisons and jails in 2012, while only 35,000 were patients in state psychiatric hospitals.”
Despite the massive amount of mentally ill individuals found having to defend themselves in American courts, Boise attorney Scott McKay, who has served on the Judicial Fairness Committee of the Idaho State Bar and the board of directors for the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, cited studies that show roughly 1 percent of felony defendants attempt to present insanity as a defense. “And of those,” writes McIntosh, “only about a quarter are successful.”
Source: Scott McIntosh, “Kohberger, Vallow Daybell Cases Can’t Include Insanity Defense In Idaho,” Idaho Statesman. Sara Rain Tree, The Psychological Effects of Solitary Confinement (Fact Sheet #3), solitarywatch.org.
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NEW SICI UNIT A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
The new $14 million, 152-person men’s dorm at the Southern Idaho Correctional Institution, with its dimming lights, bigger windows and amenities to cook and do laundry, provides residents a head start in re-acclimating to the minutiae of daily living.
View video supplied by the IDOC here.
Abby Davis with Boise’s KTVB News reports that Director Josh Tewalt has expressed an interest in continuing to update other minimum-security units and is hoping to one day build a similar dorm for women.
Source: Abby Davis, “Idaho Department of Correction Reimagines Housing with a New Dorm,” KTVB7.com
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THE IMPORTANCE OF PREPARING PRISONERS FOR REENTRY
IDOC Spokesperson Jeff Ray informed the Idaho Capital Sun last month that 98% of Idaho prisoners are expected to be released from incarceration.
Most–but not all–will have qualified while in prison for mental health, addiction and behavioral treatment programs, educational opportunities, even vocational training.
Regardless of the efforts they put forth during their incarceration, many will struggle upon release to find housing, transportation and a legal, livable wage.
In the interest of public safety, the IDOC is now working with other agencies and a variety of organizations to increase the rate of success for individuals returning from incarceration.
Mia Maldonado with the Idaho Capital Sun covers the story: “Idaho Nonprofit and State Programs Are Key to Reentry Process, Former Prisoners Say.”
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IDOC ASSUMES CONTROL OF MEN’S CAPP PROGRAM
The men’s Correctional Alternative Placement Program (CAPP) is no longer being operated by Management Training Corporation (MTC), the Utah-based company that runs prisons for a profit in seven states.
CAPP has been used since 2010 to provide an unknown portion of men who violate parole with additional rehabilitative programming in the 432-bed facility formerly known as the CAPP building, now the Mountain View Transformation Center.
Troy Oppie with Boise State Public Radio reports that Director Josh Tewalt projected last year in a committee meeting that the state will save roughly $800,000 annually by cutting the company out of its prison operations.
Source: Troy Oppie, “Idaho Department of Correction Poised to Take Over Inmate Reentry Program,” Boise State Public Radio News.
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IMSI RESIDENT INVITED TO SPEAK TO A PRISONAND PUNISHMENT CLASS HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD
It’s not often that residents of the Idaho Maximum Security Institution are invited to participate in discussions with classrooms abroad. But when Instructor Henny Hearn with Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nüremberg reached out to resident Patrick Irving with a request that he speak to her class, the staff at Central Office and IMSI worked together to make the arrangements.
Read more: “IDOC Facilitates Session Between IMSI Resident and Students of Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nüremberg”
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CHANGES IN VISITATION AT ISCI
To increase the amount of monthly visits that residents of the Idaho State Correctional Institution are allowed to receive, the facility has been divided into an A side and a B side, with each side having access to the visiting room on a 3 to 2 rotation.
Residents are allowed to schedule one visiting slot a day during the days that they are eligible: 08:30, 11:00, 13:00.
View the Department’s website for updates and cancellations.
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GOOD NEWS FOR STAFF
The Department has announced that over the next 12 months it will be investing $14.5 million into merit and equity CECs (Change in Employee Compensation).
Security staff can expect to receive a roughly 10% pay increase; non-security staff can expect, on average, an 8% increase.
Source: Idaho Department of Correction on Facebook
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RENICK ON THE RADIO
With six 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.
6.3.23. Erin Aboud, an advocate for recovery, joins Renick to discuss her experience with recovery, the criminal justice system and how she is now sharing her story to help change the lives of others.
Contact Mr. Renick at 208-477-1006 or visit https://www.svdpid.org for more information on reentry resources in Southern Idaho.
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RECENTLY ACKNOWLEDGED
Statewide– 33 members of Post Academy 92; Ofc. Greg Martin with the Top of Class Award, Ofc. Steven Courtney with the Tactical Edge Award, Sgt. Chris Ackerman with the Top Instructor Award.
District 4 — Probation & Parole Ofc. Stephen Harding for 10 years of service; Section Supervisor Seth Radimer for 15 years of service.
District 5 — Probation & Parole Ofc. Conley Hyde as employee of the quarter.
IMSI — Ofc. Joshua Dykstra as employee of the quarter.
SICI- Branden Nevers for 25 years of service; HVAC foremen Chris Baxter for 10 years of service.
PWCC– Lt. Ryan Preston and clinical supervisor Amber Mickelsen for 10 years of service.
Source: Idaho Department of Correction on Facebook
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RESOURCES FOR THE INCARCERATED
Incarcerated writers looking to earn a little extra coin may submit at no cost to the Dogwood Literary Awards for a chance to win one of three $1,000 prizes and publication in Dogwood.
Prizes are issued annually for a poem (submit up to three totalling no more than 10 pages), short story and essay (submit no more than 22 pages for either).
Dogwood
Literary Awards
English Department
1073 North Benson Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
(203) 254-4000, ext. 2565
dogwoodliterary.wordpress.com
Source: Poets & Writers Magazine (July/August ’23)
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK
Resident Concern Form
Date: 6-9-23
To: Chief of Prisons Chad Page
From: Patrick Irving 82431
Please consider reminding the resident population prior to executions that mental health resources are available to anyone who needs them. Some of us have a hard time processing the media coverage. Thank you.
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SUGGESTION BOX
If we’re not going to address the lack of ventilation and cooling at IMSI, the facility whose residents spend the most time in their cells, then how about we at least revise all applicable disciplinary policies to forbid staff from removing residents’ personal fans during summer months?
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Thanks for reading, everybody. Don’t forget to subscribe for free and leave your questions in the comments.
Shout out to St. Rose Peace & Justice in Perrysburg!