Idaho’s prison system, which currently has about 8,000 inmates behind bars and 16,000 people under supervision statewide, is up for just a very small budget increase next year, with Gov. Butch Otter recommending a 1.4 percent increase in state general funds, and a decrease of 1.1 percent in total funds. Henry Atencio, director of the Idaho Department of Correction, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that the department is continuing to move ahead with reforms under the state’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which is aimed at reserving prison cell space for the most dangerous offenders.

“We don’t have time to take a break,” Atencio told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee at his agency budget hearing on Wednesday. “We have to keep moving forward with the reforms.”

In addition to the overall push from justice reinvestment to beef up probation and parole supervision and target it to those inmates who need it the most, initiatives are now under way, he said, on restrictive housing reform; coming into compliance with a federal law seeking to prevent prison rape; and improving the state’s “re-entry system,” to ensure inmates who are released into Idaho communities successfully make the transition.

As part of restrictive housing reform, a push that started under former Director Kevin Kempf, large numbers of restrictive housing beds, used to isolate inmates for disciplinary reasons, have been eliminated, freeing up more beds for the general prison population, Atencio said. He said officials have learned that isolating  an inmate in a restrictive housing cell for weeks on end doesn’t work to change their behavior; other sanctions, including restricting privileges like visiting and property, are working better. “Our staff monitor their behavior,” Atencio said. “We believe that we have a better chance of improving behavior … than putting someone by themselves in a cell in detention.”

“Quite frankly, we think this is the right thing to do,” he told lawmakers. “It’s a long-term public safety focus. … If we can get their attention, hold them accountable, help them, that’s going to lead to long-term safety for us.”

Reforms to treatment programs in Idaho’s prisons have led to nearly 25 percent of inmates completing programming prior to their parole hearing, up from just 8 percent before justice reinvestment starts, Atencio said, while also saving money.

The biggest-ticket request in the Corrections budget for next year is a $2.3 million request to add 24 additional probation officers, as part of justice reinvestment. Atencio said it’s for “a new supervision model that we call focused supervision,” that “allows us to align our very precious resources of PO’s to our very highest-risk offenders.”

Under that approach, high-risk caseloads are being capped at 40 cases per probation officer. “At the same time, we’re increasing our supervision standards on those folks. We’ll see them face-to-face more often,” Atencio said. Meanwhile, some officers will have higher caseloads of lower-risk offenders. “Best practices indicate you put your resources towards your greatest needs,” Atencio told JFAC. “We think that’s going to help us stabilize our population.”

He said, “We hope to get these folks hired early in July.” That would allow them to attend a summer POST training academy and begin work by August or September.

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