JFAC has voted to set a budget for the state's Department of Correction next year, including the state prison system, probation and parole, that increases state funds by 5.3 percent and hikes overall spending by 4.1 percent, but still falls $2.6 million short of estimates of what the prison system will cost the state next year. House Appropriations Vice-Chair Darrell Bolz, R-Caldwell, who proposed the budgets, said they're very close to spending levels recommended by Gov. Butch Otter. "You basically hope the numbers go down," he said. If they don't, the state would have to approve supplemental appropriations next year to make up the difference.

"You really don't have a lot of choices here," Bolz said. "Public safety is a function of government, and when you've got so many inmates ... nobody wants 'em out on the streets." He told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, "I realize it's a little bit over target."

The successful budget funds the 3 percent increases required by the state's contract with Corrections Corp. of America to operate the ICC, the Idaho Correctional Center, the problem-plagued private prison south of Boise. The privately operated lockup has been the target of multiple lawsuits over prison violence and more. Bolz said he thought the state Department of Correction was "making some changes" in response to the incidents there, including "monitoring much better now" and addressing how authorities there respond to incidents. Bolz noted that between 35 and 40 percent of the state's corrections budget now goes to contract payments that are pre-set.

He said he's hoping with the ramping up of the Correctional Alternative Placement Program, often referred to as the CAPP facility, that Idaho will see its prison population decline further. The program focuses on intensive treatment, and has a capacity of 400. "I think we're seeing some positive things happening in the Department of Correction over the last three or four years," Bolz said. "The number of people being incarcerated is down from what we had projected, which is good. But we still have a long way to go this year and next year as well. Hopefully the CAPP facility ... will help us get a handle."

The budget was approved in nine separate motions for individual programs within the department; all passed on unanimous votes except the portion for the private prison, which drew three "no" votes, from Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise; and Reps. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow; and Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum; and the portion for the prison medical services contract, which drew one "no" vote from LeFavour.