Swelling prison population, inmate hep-C treatment costs take budget bite
A series of quick remodels at numerous Idaho correctional facilities, from work camp and re-entry centers to the Pocatello women’s prison, will create 99 more beds for Idaho’s swelling state prison population.
Legislative budget writers this morning unanimously approved an immediate supplemental appropriation of $483,500 to pay for the remodeling work and supplies; the supplemental appropriation bill still needs passage in the House and Senate and the governor’s signature to become law, but budget bills rarely change once they’re set by the joint budget committee.
“We are experiencing significant need to address big increases in our inmate population,” said Rep. Rick Youngblood, R-Nampa. “These additional funds will begin to help.” But it won’t solve the problem, he noted, telling his fellow members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, “It is becoming a significant issue, and if you haven’t heard, there may be further appropriation for out-of-state inmates.” The Idaho Department of Correction is working on a proposal to ship excess inmates to out-of-state private prisons.
Idaho’s prison population is projected to rise from 8,125, where it stood on July 1 at the close of the last fiscal year, to 8,342 by the end of the current fiscal year. The department’s projections show it’s then likely to rise to 8,583 by the end of the next year.
According to IDOC’s budget request, the state Board of Correction voted to start facility expansions at the St. Anthony Work Center, the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center, and four community work centers to add 99 beds during the current fiscal year; and send 188 Idaho inmates out of state in fiscal year 2019. The department also noted that county jails currently are over-capacity for taking state inmates, and currently are housing about 800; the target level is 700.
IDOC will be asking for an additional $2.3 million in its budget for next year to accomplish the plan.
There was also another supplemental appropriation for Idaho’s state prisons approved in JFAC this morning: $2,979,000 to pay for hepatitis-C treatment for 58 inmates. About 30 percent of Idaho’s inmates are infected with hepatitis-C; following federal guidelines, IDOC treats only those inmates whose diseases are identified as priority Level 1, “the most chronic,” state Corrections Director Henry Atencio told JFAC this morning.
Expensive new drugs – at a cost of between $44,600 and $62,500 per patient – cure hepatitis-C. Of the Idaho inmates treated with the drugs so far, 100 percent been successfully treated and cured.
Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, R-Nampa, said, “This is a lot of money that I expect none of us would like to spend, and I suspect the recipients of this immunization wouldn’t like to receive it either, but unfortunately this is a necessary expense.”
