Previous: First Amend This! An IDOC Newsletter, April ’24
Welcome to the May 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.
***
EDITOR’S NOTE
In this issue:
Idaho edges towards the end of an archaic era in modern medicine; a downward trend in death penalties indicates more high-road traffic; the Idaho Innocence Project is suspending legal services; JPay and Securus get banned from church and school; the Keefe Commissary Network’s annual price increase continues; Sean Carnell makes the dean’s list for two semesters in row; four easy steps to in-person visits in Idaho prisons; and one chapel worker’s request to procure a Satanic bible.
Let’s First Amend This!
***
THE END OF AN ARCHAIC ERA IN MODERN MEDICINE
Idaho Gov. Little last month signed a bill into law that will allocate $25 million for the state to construct a new 26-bed secure forensic mental health facility.
What this means for Idaho is that individuals who are deemed by the court to be dangerously mentally ill will no longer be sent to prison without an arrest or conviction. The Idaho Security Medical Program for the last five decades has used state prisons to restore Idaho’s most problematic psychiatric patients back to health in a process called civil commitment.
Despite last year working with a $1.4 billion record-breaking surplus, Idaho’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) refused Little’s 2023 request to fund the facility.
ProPublica reporter Audrey Dutton in December wrote that state officials and lawmakers have been notified a minimum of 14 times since 1954 that Idaho needs a secure mental health unit apart from its prison system. “They have also been told publicly at least eight times since 1974 that Idaho may be violating people’s rights by locking them away without an arrest or conviction, and that the state could be sued for it,” Dutton wrote.
Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, co-chairs the budget committee. She credits Dutton and ProPublica with bringing attention to the problem and influencing her vote to fund the new facility.
Idaho Department of Correction Director Josh Tewalt, too, acknowledged Dutton and ProPublica’s impact on state lawmakers. “The reporting seemed to create among policy makers almost a sense of urgency to understand this issue better, to figure out they could try to be helpful in solving,” he said. “And you know, fortunately, it came at a time when it’s not because we’re being ordered by the courts to do something.”
The state has yet to offer a timeline of completion for the facility that is set to be constructed south of Boise, near the Kuna desert prison complex.
Sources: Audrey Dutton, “Idaho Keeps Some Psychiatric Patients in Prison, Ignoring Decades of Warnings About the Practice,” ProPublica. Audrey Dutton, “After Decades of Imprisoning Patients, Idaho Approves Secure Mental Health Facility,” ProPublica.
***
WEEK TWO, DAY FIVE BREAKFAST (MAINLINE)
[Fruit and whole grain bread may be substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
______________________________
1 pc — Banana Bread
2 oz — Bran Flakes
2 oz — Breakfast Sausage
16 oz — Milk 1%
10 gm — Margarine
2 pkt — Sugar
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
______________________________
Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
***
EXECUTION GOSSIP: IDAHO AND ELSEWHERE
Boise’s KTVB news last month followed up on February’s failed execution of Thomas Creech by asking the IDOC whom of Idaho’s eight death row residents will executioners queue up next.
An IDOC spokesperson responded that there is no particular order the state’s distinguished extinguishers must follow, the determining factor for finalization depends on the individual case status of those eligible.
KTVB reports that death remains a legal form of punishment in 27 states, but six of those have paused their rendering operations through executive action.
Robin Maher is the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. He says that half of the population has lost confidence in the government’s ability to justly distribute the decadent demise. He points to the decreasing number of people being sentenced to death as an indication that juries increasingly object to up-thumbing the ultimate penalty. “But more than that,” Maher says, “we’re seeing isolated use of the death penalty in just a few places around the country. And those are decisions that are largely made by elected prosecutors and not by the American public.”
Source: KTVB Staff, “There Has Been a Real Loss of Confidence and Support’: Experts Weigh in on Death Penalty in Idaho,” KTVB.com
***
WEEK TWO, DAY FIVE LUNCH (MAINLINE)
[Fruit and whole grain bread may be substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
______________________________
1 ea — Fresh Fruit (orange)
2 oz — Peanut Butter
1 oz — Jelly
2 oz — Whole Grain Bread
3 oz — Fresh Vegetable
1 oz — Potato Chips
______________________________
Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
***
IDAHO INNOCENCE PROJECT SUSPENDS LEGAL SERVICES
The Idaho Innocence Project (IIP) is temporarily suspending its legal services. The project that over the years has exonerated multiple wrongfully convicted individuals will focus only on DNA research while continuing to search for ways to fund its legal services.
According to a Boise State University news release, the IIP will still provide forensic DNA consulting in select post-conviction cases through the Forensic Justice Project. But only for clients who have obtained their own qualified legal counsel.
“We are seeking funding and partnerships that will allow us to provide legal services for Idaho applicants in the future,” the release said.
Dr. Greg Hampian is the executive director of the project. “It’s unnerving to have spotty funding,” Hampian told KIVITV. “It’s been crazy, and it’s been that way the whole time I’ve been here.”
The IIP suggests that Idaho prisoners with a claim of innocence submit applications to The Exoneration Project and Centurion Ministries.
Sources: Boisestate.edu. Brendyn Jones, “Idaho Innocence Project Suspending Their Legal Services, for Now,” Kivitv.com
***
WEEK TWO, DAY FIVE DINNER (MAINLINE)
[Fruit and whole grain bread may be substituted at facilities flagged for excessively brewing alcohol.]
______________________________
1/2 cup — Sloppy Joes
2 oz — Wholegrain Bread
2 ea — Ketchup Packet
2 pc — Hashbrown Patties
1/2 cup — Coleslaw with Carrot
1 pc — Cake #8 (gelatin)
8 oz — Vitamin Beverage
______________________________
Click here for video.
Source: IDOC Food Service Menu 7.1
***
JPAY AND SECURUS BANNED FROM ISCI CHAPEL AND SCHOOL
JPay and Securus devices are no longer permitted in at least one Idaho prison’s education building and chapel.
Notices posted to message boards throughout the Idaho State Correctional Institution describe the ban as a necessary step to ensure that residents’ access to computers remain open. The notices offered no indication as to why residents’ access to computers was ever in jeopardy.
According to the notices, any JPay, Securus or MP3 device discovered by staff within the buildings will be confiscated. The devices will then be handed over to prison investigators, to determine whether the player has been altered or loaded with unapproved content.
If at a later date the investigating officer clears the player, it will be returned to the resident with a written warning and a demerit in their file. A second offense will result in a disciplinary charge for disobedience to direct orders.
Residents found in possession of an altered player or unapproved content will be subject to disciplinary infractions and punishment.
Sources: Education PM Smith, “JPay Media Players in Education,” ISCI Memo. Sgt. Gresick, “Players in Education and Chapel,” ISCI Memo.
***
KEEFE COMMISSARY CONTINUES ANNUAL PRICE INCREASE
Keefe Commissary has once again increased its rates, this time by 3.2%, in accordance with the Consumer Price Index.
Those interested in comparing the commissary prices and items offered in Idaho prisons with prisons in 45 other states can do so by visiting the new prison commissary database unveiled last month by The Appeal.
The Appeal describes itself as a nonprofit news organization whose work “shows the human and economic costs of our expansive carceral system, equips people with the tools to make change, and elevates solutions that seek to create a safer society without clinging to punitive responses.”
***
CONGRATULATIONS SEAN CARNELL
Idaho Correctional Institution-Orofino (ICIO) resident Sean Carnell has now twice made the dean’s list at the University of Idaho (U of I).
Carnell is a participant of the Department of Education’s (DOE) Second Chance Pell Grant program. He studies alongside a mixture of students–some incarcerated, some not–in classes made possible by a collaboration between the IDOC, the DOE, U of I and Lewis-Clark State College (LC State).
“This is the first time in corrections that I’ve felt that I’ve been valued as a human being,” Carnell told Idaho Capital Sun reporter Mia Maldonado. “Most of the time we are the sum of our failures. This [program] gives us the opportunity to try to achieve these levels of success that we never thought possible.”
In fall 2022, the U of I and LC State joined 198 other colleges in participating in the DOE program.
“Like Carnell,” writes Maldonado, “more than 90 residents at the Orofino prison registered for the spring semester through the Second Chance Pell program, keeping themselves busy while in prison while also aiming to enhance their resumes in preparation for their eventual release.”
The dean of University of Idaho’s College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, Sean Quintan, told Maldonado that providing incarcerated individuals with access to higher education is one of the surest ways to keep them from continuing to cycle through the criminal justice system. “I believe that this is a really important way at serving our state–to help people improve their lives and have safer communities,” Quintan said.
Source: Mia Maldonado, “Federal Grants Offer Idaho Prison Students a Second Chance at College Education,” Idaho Capital Sun.
***
HOW TO SCHEDULE IN-PERSON VISITS WITH A RESIDENT OF IDAHO PRISONS
1) First submit a visiting application to the IDOC. Anyone under 18 years old must be related to the resident as an immediate family member or a step-child in an existing marriage. All others must provide proof of an existing relationship prior to incarceration. (Tip: Do not submit altered photos as proof. The department uses software to determine a photo’s authenticity.)
2) The resident will receive notice once the application is processed and is responsible for informing the visitor of the outcome. If the application is denied, the resident can appeal the decision by completing an appeals packet, available through their facility’s Visiting officer.
3) Once approved, the visitor must create an account at ICSolutions.com. Call ICSolutions Support for assistance: 1-800-506-8407.
4) After creating an ICSolutions account, the approved visitor must contact the appropriate facility’s Visiting staff to activate the account. Once the account is activated, they will be able to use it to schedule visits in accordance with IDOC rules.
***
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 on 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.
4.6.24. IDOC Deputy Director Bree Derrick is optimistic about the department’s current trajectory. She discusses new partnerships, collaborations, a new statewide mentor program and planned women’s facility, and how those who are eager to better themselves in IDOC custody now have more opportunities to do so.
4.13.24. Pastor T.J. Hanky moved his family from Florida to start Refresh Church in Meridian. He has since made it his mission to help others in the Treasure Valley area discover how they are uniquely wired by God.
4.20.24. Ray Garcia is a career development specialist with St. Vincent de Paul. He reports to work every day from a community reintegration center, designed to help ease him back into the community from incarceration. Garcia discusses how his experience with incarceration powers his ability to assist others.
4.27.24. Douglas Smith is the owner of D-Degree Coaching and Training. Once incarcerated himself, he now actively advocates for people involved in the criminal justice system in Texas. Smith shares how he and others are working towards real reform.
Contact Mr. Renick at 208-477-1006 or visit https://www.svdpid.org for more information on reentry resources in Southwestern Idaho.
***
RECENTLY ACKNOWLEDGED
Newest graduates of the Courageous Leadership 200 class.
Twenty-seven graduates of Probation and Parole Academy No. 37; James Deatrick with the Top of Class Award; RJ Williams with the Tactical Edge Award; Nick Christiansen with the Top Instructor Award.
Forty-four graduates of CO Academy 4.24; John Palmer with Top of Class; Garrett Mobray with Tactical Edge Award; Skyler Irvin with Top Instructor Award.
East Boise Community Reentry Center residents for raising $882.50 to donate to Bustin’ Out Boise, a local organization that helps women undergoing cancer treatment.
Sources: Idaho Department of Correction on Facebook
***
RESIDENT AUDITING 101
The following public records requests have yet to be filled:
1) March’s request for any memorandum of understandings (MOU), contracts or proposals between the IDOC and Day One Plus, the organization working with department officials and residents to create a facility-wide standardized peer mentor program.
2) March’s request for the materials being used to train residents participating as mentors for the forthcoming Restoring Promise Program at ISCI.
3) April’s request for all IDOC-involved MOUs/proposals to create an opioid disorder medication pilot program.
***
RESOURCE FOR INCARCERATED PERSONS
Prisoner Express promotes rehabilitation by providing free information, education and creative opportunities for self-expression to individuals who are incarcerated throughout the U.S. Those incarcerated can sign up for a free subscription to Prisoner Express News and request a list of available programs by writing:
CTA/Durland Alternatives Library
PO Box 6556
Ithaca, NY 14851
***
INMATE SERVICES AT WORK
The Satanic Temple
64 Bridge St.
Salem, MA 01970
5.1.24
Greetings!
My name is Patrick Irving. I am currently incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Institution and I run a prison project that can be viewed at bookofirving82431.com. I was asked by my prison’s chapel for help locating a Satanic bible and/or other related materials for some gentlemen here who are looking to study and worship together. From what I understand, they are a little shy of resources and support. Any chance you can aid my quest to supply them with their bible? And, would you happen to have a resource guide that I can place in our chapel?
Many Thanks,
Irving 82431
***
SUGGESTION BOX
Hug it out, bros.
***
Shout out to Grandma Lorna Lord-Nader (July 14, 1936 – May 8, 2024) and Grandpa Jim!