Complaints prompt exit of Texas warden

BOISE – The warden of a private Texas prison housing Idaho inmates has been “relieved of his duties” after complaints from Idaho.

The Dickens County Correctional Center, which houses 125 Idaho inmates, made the change after an Idaho corrections team visited the large, older county jail near Lubbock, Texas, in March and reported “deficiencies.”

Idaho Corrections Director Brent Reinke said problems included an absence of required educational and treatment programs, inadequate out-of-cell time, inappropriate lighting, and problems with food, clothing and cleanliness. Also, an inmate from Ada County who escaped in December and recaptured committed suicide at the facility in early March.

“The feedback I got from the team was that what they were concerned with was the Texas style of justice,” Reinke said. “Texas justice is different than Idaho justice. It just is. And we want our inmates handled according to Idaho justice.

“Ninety-eight percent of those folks are coming back to our communities. … Our mission is to keep Idaho safe. … We don’t want to make the matter worse, so that they come back more violent or more angry.”

The state Board of Correction voted unanimously Monday to explore private prison options in Idaho as an alternative to sending inmates out of state in the future.

Dickens is one of two Texas lockups operated by GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut Corp., to which Idaho inmates were moved after problems at another GEO facility in Newton County, Texas, last year.

The Newton County lockup saw two escapes, a demonstration in which 85 Idaho inmates refused to return to their cells for hours in protest over conditions, and the discipline of three prison employees after jailers roughed up and pepper-sprayed six Idaho inmates.

Idaho has 431 inmates housed out of state due to overcrowding in its prison system – 125 at Dickens, 304 at Bill Clayton Detention Center in Littlefield, Texas, and two elsewhere.

Reinke said GEO Group has been responsive to the complaints, and the new acting warden has made improvements. Complaints have dropped off since that change was made last month.

But members of the state Board of Correction were concerned on Monday. “They’re not meeting the terms of the contract,” said board Chairwoman Robin Sandy. “Maybe I’m just used to enforcing a contract a little more aggressively.”

Sharon Lamm, deputy administrator of management services for Idaho Corrections, told the board conditions were much improved at a follow-up visit in April. Idaho pays $51 per inmate per day in Texas. The average cost in Idaho is $48 per day.

Idaho is seeking proposals for additional out-of-state prison beds for overflow inmates. The deadline for proposals is today. Reinke said the most recent estimates show Idaho will need 5,200 more beds in the next 10 years.

But Sandy said placing inmates out of state could become prohibitively expensive because California is poised to send 8,000 of its inmates out of state. “We all know what that’s going to do to the price of beds,” she said.

She proposed that Idaho look into contracting for private prison space in state, which would require a change in state law. Idaho has one privately operated prison, but the facility is owned by the state.

“It’s something we need to discuss,” Sandy told the board. “I’ve spoken to the governor’s office about it. They seem to like the idea.”

Board member Jay Nielsen said, “I don’t think we’re going to get $60 million out of the Legislature to build one, so our back’s to the wall – if we’re going to have a new prison, it’s going to have to be a private one.”

The board voted unanimously to seek more information on that option.

Jack Van Valkenburgh, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, said, “I’m less concerned with whether it’s a public or private entity than with whether conditions are adequate and constitutional, and whether there are adequate programs to return inmates to society in a productive manner.”

The Idaho inmate who committed suicide at the Texas lockup, Scot Noble Payne, 43, was found in a shower at 1 a.m. with fatal razor wounds. He was serving seven to 20 years for lewd and lascivious conduct.

Matt EchoHawk, staff attorney for the Idaho ACLU, said his group received complaints from about one in five Idaho inmates at the Dickens facility after Payne’s escape in December. Many said they were stuck in their cells without opportunities for rehabilitation.

“The prison officials would say it was due to weather or security, something like that, but it wasn’t happening, they wouldn’t be out of their cells,” EchoHawk said.