Embedded in this post are two documents. The first is a page from the log of public record requests submitted to the Idaho Department of Correction in December. The second lists the Idaho codes used to justify redactions made to the first.
Requesting the agency’s monthly log of public record requests is something I’ve done for years. I use these logs to track investigations into the agency’s operations, and also to network with other criminal justice advocates, researchers and writers. I’ve seen a lot of redactions made to these logs, but never a level of obfuscation like this.
Check out request R032917-123025, logged December 30, 2025. (I tagged it with a star to help you find it.) Note the eight strategically-placed inkblots, how they obscure the requestor’s attempt to investigate what their past-tense verbiage infers to be death of an incarcerated loved one.
Note in the second document how the agency cites Idaho Code 74-105(4)(a)(i) for each of the eight redactions made to this request.
Idaho Code 74-105(4)(a)(i):
The following records of the department of correction [are exempt from public disclosure]:
Records of which the public interest in confidentiality, public safety, security and habilitation clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure as identified pursuant to the authority of the state board of correction under Section 20-212, Idaho Code.
(Section 20-212 gives the board of correction the power to create agency-specific policies in accordance with other state laws.)
In 2025 InvestigateWest used public record information to unearth the ongoing sexual abuse of female prisoners by Idaho corrections staff.
After the investigaiton findings were published Idaho determined that it’s no longer in the public’s interest to disclose why law enforcement officers leave their jobs.
If you are anything like me, you are curious to know the truth behind this document’s redactions. You are also probably wondering just how far Idaho will go to conceal corruption within its agencies. And lastly, you will be eager to support this family as it searches for accountability and closure.
I wish to invite the person who submitted this request to a private conversation. Please help me to reach them and share this post as you see appropriate.
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