Previous: First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, Nov. ’23
[Revised 1/5/2024]
Welcome to the December 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
In this issue:
I can neither confirm nor deny the demand for trauma-informed care in corrections; Ada County fails to pass a jail bond and wants to raise the rate of rent the state pays for jail beds; Idaho splits the bill for an Arizona prison with Hawaii and Montana; Ameelio offers an alternative to charging prisoners and their loved ones exorbitant rates to communicate; and how one Idaho prison is enticing good behavior.
Let’s First Amend This!
NEEDING TO SHARE WHILE SHARING THE NEED (FOR TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE IN PRISONS)
Carolyn Komatsoulis with Idaho Press reported last month on how earlier this year the IDOC launched a series of pilot programs to treat staff and residents for corrections fatigue, trauma and stress.
The programs were funded using a $500,000 allocation from Idaho’s 2022 Legislature. The funding was made available through June 2023.
“For staff,” writes Komatsoulis, “the Department of Correction provided programs including individual psychotherapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (an intervention for trauma), mindfulness and trauma-informed yoga. There was also a call-to-talk careline and burnout and stress coaching. About 170 staff accessed the services.”
Komatsoulis also reports that between April and June over 600 residents across 11 facilities participated in mindfulness training, yoga and other trauma-informed curriculums.
Having attempted to follow the rollout of these programs, and do so from the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, where I lacked access to the programs and the people who participated, I have information that contrasts with Komatsoulis’s report.
I began submitting monthly public records requests to the IDOC last summer, after it announced that it was making grant funding available to qualified providers.
Throughout the fall the Department responded to my requests for grant applications and awards with “no records found.”
I waited through the winter and reached out in the spring to IDOC’s public information officer, Jeff Ray. Ray informed me through a JPay-email relay (facilitated by my father) that the IDOC awarded a total of 13 contracts to providers earlier in the year.
“Generally,” Ray wrote, “we are pleased to be able to offer mental health services that help staff and residents enhance their psychological wellbeing. Our only concern right now is that we’d love for more folks to avail themselves of [sic] the critical resources.”
I submitted another public records request after our exchange, and this time I received a total of 14 contracts–including two signed and dated August ’22–ranging from $2,476.28 to $83,826. Combined they were not to exceed $442,739.12 without written approval.
I started reaching out through letters and emails to the providers who were awarded contracts. I asked if they’d be willing to share from their experiences working with justice-impacted people, and also whether they’d recommend any wellness tips or reading materials to help promote wellness.
Dr. Ryan Hulbert sent me a copy of “Driver’s Ed for the Brain”–the book that he authored and used to guide his bibliotherapy sessions for residents. Another provider accepted a short list of questions, and then failed to respond with answers. A third provider responded by making a phone call that prompted prison staff to question me in my cell: Did I write so-and-so a letter and why? How did I obtain her address? Could my credentials be confirmed? Would I like to work as a GED tutor?
The confrontation was uncomfortable enough for me to divert my attention from the remaining providers to the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI).
According to the nonprofit organization’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, “NAMI provides advocacy, education, support and public awareness so that all individuals and families affected by mental illness can build better lives.”
Despite identifying myself as a journalist who works from within the peak of high-risk populations, NAMI refused to respond to multiple letters and follow-up emails.
The organization has now refused my requests for information 20-plus times in the last five years.
I also reached out to IDOC’s research department. I asked for findings that illustrate the health effects associated with working in corrections. One of the department’s research analysts agreed in September to have materials delivered to my facility.
For reasons unknown they never arrived.
Komatsoulis writes in her article that, according to the IDOC, the programs produced data suggesting that those who participated benefited from doing so.
But when the IDOC filled my public records request for all End of Project Reports and final evaluations in October, I found that it was able to produce just two of the 14 requisite reports–not nearly enough to confirm how many people participated in the programs and to what benefit the funding was used.
After her story was published, I wrote Komatsoulis through a JPay-email relay. “I noticed in your article that you were able to verify the number of facilities and people that participated in these programs, and also that you were able to obtain participant feedback. Any chance you’d mind sharing how you were able to obtain this information?”
Komatsoulis didn’t respond to my request for information.
Source: Carolyn Komatsoulis, “Healing Vs. Punishment: IDOC Offered Trauma Programs to Inmates and Staff, IdahoPress.com
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WEEK ONE, DAY SIX BREAKFAST (MAINLINE)
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessive brewing of alcohol.]
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1/2 cup — Scrambled Eggs
1 cup — Oatmeal
1 cup — Hash Browns
8 oz — Milk 1%
10 gm — Margarine
2 pkt — Sugar
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
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ADA COUNTY FAILS TO PASS JAIL BOND, ASKS STATE TO PAY MORE FOR TAKING UP JAIL BEDS
Last month Ada County voters narrowly failed to pass a proposal that would have funded a $49 million expansion to the Ada County Jail.
The Ada County Commission proposal fell less than one percent shy of the two-thirds majority vote required to approve a bond that would have allowed Sheriff Matt Clifford to expand the jail’s booking area, sally port, kitchen, warehouse and bed space.
Citing information from the Sheriff’s Office and Patrick Orr, the Sheriff’s spokesperson, Idaho Statesman reporters Ian Max Stevenson and Alex Brizee reported last month that the jail averages 1,008 people a day and is looking to add 294 more beds to its current total of 1,116.
According to Stevenson, Commissioner Rod Beck has suggested to lawmakers that the expansion wouldn’t be necessary were the jail not holding on average 140 state prisoners for the IDOC.
Beck is now asking the Legislature to increase the rate that the IDOC pays to house state prisoners in the county jail.
Clifford told the Statesman, “Programs that allow people in police custody to stay out of the jail through alternative sentencing are no longer able to keep the jail’s population below capacity.”
In fiscal year 2022, the IDOC paid Ada County $3.8 million for use of its jail beds.
Orr says that it costs an average of $117.34 a day to house a person at the jail. But the state only pays the jail $55 a day the first five days to house a state prisoner, and $75 daily after seven days.
In 2019, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office sued the IDOC for allowing its prisoners to remain in the jail for unreasonable periods of time following their sentencing hearings. When the jail’s population dramatically dropped during the initial response to COVID-19, then-Ada County Sheriff Stephen Bartlett withdrew the case.
“We understand the frustration our partners at Ada County are feeling because we’re facing the same challenges,” IDOC public information officer Jeff Ray told the Statesman. “However, adding beds is only part of the answer. In the long term, we need to reduce the demands by addressing the issues that fuel crime in our communities. Doing so will require innovation and investment on all levels of government.”
Sources: Ian Max Stevenson and Alex Brizee, “Ada County Jail is Too Full Despite Alternative Sentences. Voters Face a Decision,” Idaho Statesman. Ian Max Stevenson, “After Jail Bond Fails, Ada County Leaders ask for help from the Idaho Legislature,” Idaho Statesman.
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WEEK ONE, DAY SIX LUNCH (MAINLINE)
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
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1 ea — Fresh Fruit/ Banana
1 1/2 oz — Peanut Butter
1/2 oz — Jelly
2 oz — Wholegrain Bread
1 pc — Weekend Oat Bar
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
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IDAHO, HAWAII AND MONTANA SPLIT THE BILL FOR AN ARIZONA PRISON
The state of Montana has signed a $7.9 million deal to house 120 prisoners over the next two years at the Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona–where prisoners from Idaho, Hawaii and Montana are also being housed.
The deal comes as Montana is preparing to perform a $228 million dollar upgrade to increase the capacity of the Montana State Prison (MSP).
The official website for Montana reports that the state’s DOC director, Brian Gookin, negotiated with CoreCivic to make limited educational services and vocational training available to the men being transferred.
CoreCivic touts itself as one of America’s largest private vendors of incarceration, with roughly 80,000 beds and 67 facilities across the country, according to its most recent SEC 10-Q report.
Sources: Carolynn Stocker, “First Group of DOC Inmates Transported to Arizona Correctional Facility,” Montana.gov. Keila Szpaller, “Montana Prisoners in Arizona After $8M CoreCivic Deal,” DailyMontanan.com.
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WEEK ONE, DAY SIX DINNER (MAINLINE)
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessive brewing of alcohol.]
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1.25 cup — Ham & Scalloped Potatoes
1 cup — Garden Salad #3
1 oz — French Dressing
1/2 cup — Fruit Crisp
2 oz — Wholegrain Bread
10 gm — Margarine
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
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Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
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NON-PROFIT COMPANY OFFERS AFFORDABLE ALTERNATIVE TO ICSOLUTIONS AND TELMATE
The Connecticut-based nonprofit company Ameelio has developed technology that allows individuals who are incarcerated to communicate for free with their loved ones.
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman are among Ameelio’s financial supporters, and prisons in Colorado, Maine, Illinois and Iowa have already begun integrating the company’s services.
What’s keeping Idaho from doing the same?
In an op-ed published last month by the Idaho Statesman, Scott McIntosh shares how Idaho is encouraging predatory service providers to pay for play in its carceral market: “Canyon County received about $130,000 last year from its contract with Telmate. Ada County received $540,000 last year from Telmate. The IDOC received $1.5 million from its provider, ICSolutions.”
By investing in services like Ameelio’s, he posits, and allowing people who are incarcerated to keep in better contact with their support networks, Idaho could reduce its rate of recidivism and save money in the long run.
View McIntosh’s op-ed “Here’s An Alternative to the Corrupt System of Charging for Prison Phone Calls” for more.
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CLEMENCY HEARING FOR THOMAS CREECH
The Commission of Pardons and Parole has scheduled Thomas Creech’s commutation hearing for January 19th, 2024.
Creech is represented by the Federal Defender Services of Idaho and is seeking to reduce his sentence from death to life in prison.
Creech requested the hearing after being served with a death warrant in October.
Now 73 years old, Creech has resided on death row since 1983, following his conviction for beating fellow prisoner David Dale Jensen to death with a sock full of batteries.
He was originally sentenced to death for killing two people in Valley County in 1974, but was allowed back into the prison’s general population after that sentence was reduced on appeal.
Boise’s KTVB news reports that Creech is also scheduled by the court for a review hearing in February.
The IDOC has announced that it has obtained the chemicals needed to perform a lethal injection.
Source: KTVB staff, “Review Hearing for Idaho’s Longest Serving Death-Row Inmate Thomas Creech Delayed,” KTVB.com.
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A SYNOPSIS OF IDAHO’S EFFORTS TO SCORE DEADLY DRUGS
With a shield of secrecy protecting the measures taken by the IDOC to procure its lethal injection drugs, many are wondering how and from whom did the agency finally score.
Will the secrecy laws be enough to keep the nation’s most innovative reporters from cracking the case?
Idaho Capital Sun reporter Clark Corbin covers the state’s controversial law that civic sleuths must work around in “Idaho Has Obtained Lethal Injection Chemicals. But State Law Protects Where they Came From.”
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IDAHO SETS A NEW STANDARD WITH GOOD BEHAVIOR PROGRAM
Boise’s CBS2 News took time out of its November 7th broadcast to show residents* at the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC) being rewarded for good behavior with a trip outside to view the October 24th solar eclipse.
But what the news station failed to share was how behind this reward was the inference, “Behold! The gods are angry with the actions of the others who live among you!”
Nevertheless, says Lefty’s cousin Tucker who is friends with Tommy “Good Legs” Brinkerhoff, the ISCC resident population is looking forward to being let outside again come the next solar eclipse.
Sources: CBS2 Staff, “Idaho Inmates Step Out of Cells to Witness Rare Solar Eclipse,” Idahonews.com. Lefty’s cousin Tucker.
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P.U.R.P.O.S.E.
by IMSI Sgt. Jonathan Riley
[This article was originally published through Idaho Department of Correction on Facebook. It is shared here in accordance with the Idaho Public Records Act.]
The Idaho Maximum Security Institution recently upgraded an old white-walled conference room to a fully functioning training and mat room for staff.
This process allowed us to showcase some of our residents’ talents in painting and furniture design.
Residents Jeremy Wilhelm and Zachary Johnson designed and built the shelf to celebrate staff achievements and awards.
They, along with residents Daniel Alldrin, Larry Halbert and John Vallenciano, Jr. helped paint the room and provided artwork for the P.U.R.P.O.S.E. mural.
The PURPOSE initiative is about getting clear on direction and expectations, aligning our individual and agency goals, and finding purpose in our work.
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CHRISTMAS DINNER
[Fruit and whole grain bread is substituted at facilities flagged for excessive brewing of alcohol.]
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2.5 oz –Turkey
2.5 oz — Ham
1/2 cup — Holiday Gravy
1/2 cup — Cornbread Casserole
1/2 cup — Mashed Potato
1 cup — Garden Salad
1oz — Homemade Ranch Dressing
1 pc — Pecan Pie
1 — Roll
1 — Margarine
1 — Fortical
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Source: IDOC JPay notification to residents.
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A MESSAGE FROM THE IDOC: KNOW THE RISKS OF BREWING PRUNO
[The message was delivered to IDOC residents over JPay 11.17.23. It is presented here in accordance with the Idaho Public Records Act.]
Pruno: A Recipe for Botulism
You may have heard about a cheap, quick way to make a kind of homemade alcohol that goes by many different names, including pruno, hooch, brew, prison wine and buck. No matter what it’s called, it can give you more than a cheap buzz. It can give you botulism, a life-threatening illness.
What is botulism?
Botulism is a rare but serious illness caused by a toxin (poison) that attacks the body’s nerves and can lead to paralysis and death. Because the disease can paralyze the muscles used in breathing, people can die soon after symptoms first appear. Even those who get medical treatment right away may be paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator (breathing machine) for many weeks.
One way people get botulism is by eating or drinking something that has the toxin in it. Some prisoners in California, Arizona, Utah, and Mississippi have gotten botulism after making and drinking pruno. Almost all of them had to be hospitalized for treatment, and many were put on a ventilator for days or even weeks. All of the botulism outbreaks linked to pruno have occurred among prisoners. However, anyone who drinks this kind of alcohol is at risk.
How can pruno give me botulism?
When people make pruno, they usually ferment fruit, sugar, water and other common ingredients for several days in a sealed plastic bag. Making alcohol this way can cause botulism germs to make toxins. The toxin is what makes you sick.
How can I stay safe?
If you make pruno, you put yourself and anyone who drinks it in danger of getting botulism. The alcohol in your drink won’t render the toxin harmless.
We don’t know how to make this kind of alcohol safely. But we do know the batches of pruno that gave people botulism used at least one of these ingredients:
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- Potatoes
- Honey
- Food from bulging cans
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How would I know if I have botulism?
If you drink pruno and have symptoms of botulism, get medical help immediately.
Symptoms include:
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- Blurred or double vision
- Drooping eyelids
- Slurred speech
- Difficulty swallowing
- A thick-feeling tongue
- Dry mouth
- Muscle weakness
- Difficulty breathing
- Paralysis
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RENICK ON THE RADIO
With over 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 a Southwest Idaho advocacy arm of https://www.svdpid.org, shares what it’s like to live incarcerated in Idaho and then come out of incarceration and live on parole.
11.18.23 — Returning citizens and St. Vincent de Paul employees Sara Deaton and Geneen Gillogly discuss breaking free from negative lifestyles to reestablish one’s purpose and self.
11.25.23 Stephanie Wells is a returning citizen and the reentry coordinator for All American Publishing. Wells and her employer, who has long hired justice-involved individuals to sell advertising for school sports, are now working with the IDOC to open a call center at a women’s facility.
Contact Mr. Renick at 208-477-1006 or https://www.svdpid.org. Visit https://www.svdpid.org for more information on reentry resources in Southern Idaho.
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RECENTLY ACKNOWLEDGED
Statewide — 31 members of POST Academy 94.
IMSI — Ofc. Ben Potter with the PA94 Tactical Edge Award; Sgt. Nathan Roe with Top Instructor Award.
SICI — Ofc. John Henrie with Top Student Award.
NICI — Sgt. Josh Marks for keeping a resident safe while he was at risk of committing suicide; CCM Nathan Collins for noticing a shift in a resident’s behavior and intervening before he engaged in further self-harm.
Sources: Idaho Department of Correction on Facebook
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RESIDENT AUDITING 101
A tip from former resident auditor Clarence Sorensen on reducing the costs associated with submitting public records requests from prison to Idaho entities: “Ask that all responsive records be printed lengthwise on the front and the back of the page using size-appropriate font. This will increase the amount of content that you receive in the 100 pages that you are entitled to for free.”
Public records requests submitted by the Resident Auditing Committee in November:
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- The complete log of public records requests from October and November ’23.
- The total number of grievances filed by IDOC residents over Centurion Health’s billing practices, including the number of grievances that were filed but denied their process for not being filed within 30 days of the date that the incident occurred.
- All ongoing court cases that involve the IDOC, Centurion Health and/or its contractors.
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RESOURCE FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS
The PARC National Prisoner Resource Directory lists Just Detention International (JDI) as a health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse and exploitation in all forms of detention. JDI publishes a resource guide for incarcerated survivors, as well as a Survivor Packet that includes contact information for local rape crisis centers and legal aid organizations; and a letter of hope from another prison rape survivor. The organization serves people nationally and prisoners may communicate confidentially with JDI using legal mail.
Just Detention International
Ms. Cynthia Totten, Esq., Bar #199266
3325 Wilshire Blvd, Ste. 340
Los Angeles, CA 90010
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INMATE SERVICES AT WORK
To: Prison Library Project, Prisoners Literature Project, Rogue Liberation Library, LGBT Books to Prisoners, Prisoner Express, Prison Book Program
11.25.23
Hi folks,
I’m looking to form a creative problem-solving, civic-outreach service group–a small group of IDOC residents who are motivated to support their communities and their communities’ efforts through creative and constructive methods that build transferable experience.
I am interested in materials that explore:
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- Creative problem-solving
- Solutions-oriented journalism
- Community-centered healing — approaches and philosophy
- Leadership and networking
- Civic organizing and restoration
- Resource development
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And anything else that you feel might supplement our mission.
Please send all materials to:
Patrick Irving 82431
ISCI Unit 14B-4B
PO Box 14
Boise, ID 83707
Many thanks.
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SUGGESTION BOX
I suggest filming a series of conversations between people associated with Idaho corrections and the community at large, and then airing those conversations over institutional channels. This to better provide the spectrum of individuals who are currently in custody with more exposure to the mission, goals and beliefs that are driving Idaho corrections today.
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Shout out from Joe to David in Pocatello!