Lawmakers consider private vs. state prisons

BOISE – Idaho’s prison population could surge by more than 5,500 over the next decade, and lawmakers are split on whether to have the state step in and build new lockups or let the expanding private corrections industry handle the overflow.

The urgency is growing, as Idaho inmates shipped elsewhere have alleged poor treatment, and one killed himself in Texas in March.

Gov. Butch Otter, a Republican, leans toward paying companies such as The GEO Group, based in Florida, or Tennessee’s Corrections Corporation of America to build and run prisons with thousands of new beds to house an inmate population of 7,200 that’s growing at 7 percent annually. The private sector can do it faster and cheaper, he said.

“A new prison built and owned by the state would take longer to construct, according to our experts,” Otter said in an e-mail. “We have been told 18 to 24 months on the private side, versus three to four years on the public side. We have an immediate need that needs addressing.”

Meanwhile, members of Otter’s own party, including Rep. Maxine Bell, chairwoman of the budget committee that controls money spent on prisons, would rather have Idaho build its own prisons. She said that letting a for-profit company take charge could mean losing control over how the state rehabilitates criminals, 90 percent of whom will eventually be released.

“The governor has a good strong philosophy on private and public cooperation,” said Bell, R-Jerome. “But in this situation, where you allow somebody to come in and build, and bring in other prisoners from other states, I don’t see it. I want to have control over contracts for medical care, education, things we need to do to get them clean and out in society again.”

Idaho now owns all its prisons and operates all but one: Corrections Corporation of America runs the 1,500-bed Idaho Correctional Center near Boise. But as prisoner numbers grow, the state is sending more and more prisoners elsewhere, with 540 now in Texas and Oklahoma at a cost of $13 million a year.

Carter Goble Lee, a consultant hired this year, told Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke his agency needs room for 5,560 more inmates over 10 years, at a price tag of $1 billion. Even with 650 new prison beds in the works and additional proposals for 700 more beds slated to be introduced in the 2008 Legislature, Reinke said that’s not enough.

“We need a new prison for Idaho, and we need to get that operationalized as soon as possible,” Reinke said earlier this month.

Idaho inmates shipped elsewhere since 2005 have bounced from prison to prison in three states. Reinke concedes officials didn’t monitor their treatment properly, leading to conflicts with guards and poor conditions in Texas.

One inmate, Scot Noble Payne, killed himself at the GEO-run Dickens County Correctional Center in Spur, Texas; an Idaho investigator who inspected his cell said conditions there may have contributed to his suicide.

In August, his mother, Shirley Noble, lodged a $500,000 claim against Idaho for her son’s March 4 death. She also testified earlier this month at hearings in the Texas Legislature against shipping prisoners thousands of miles from home to private facilities. It separates them from their families and leaves them vulnerable to companies that cut corners to boost profit, she said.

“It seemed there was no end to the degradation he and other prisoners were to endure with substandard facilities,” Noble said at Oct. 12 hearings in Austin, Texas.

As Idaho’s prisons bulge, however, private companies are eager to cash in here, too.

In 2006, GEO and Corrections Corporation of America handed out $40,000 in campaign contributions to more than 30 GOP lawmakers and one Democrat, in hopes of winning favor on possible new prison-building contracts.

Some lawmakers are heeding the call: Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden, wants to make building an Idaho prison more attractive to the firms. He’s drafting legislation that would let private prison companies bring inmates from other states to facilities they might build in Idaho, to guarantee their beds will be filled.

Steve Owen, a spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America, said such laws provide assurances for companies like his that they can fill beds in their prisons – even if there isn’t demand from the state where the prison is located.

“It helps us keep that operation financially viable during those time frames when the state is not utilizing the facility,” Owen said.

GEO didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Not everybody is convinced bringing other states’ inmates to private prisons here would be a good idea.

While Corrections Corporation of America may be doing a good job running the prison near Boise, the problems that inmates like Payne encountered at GEO’s prison in Texas are a sign that duplicating such out-of-state shipments in Idaho could pose new headaches, said Sen. Mike Burkett, D-Boise.

“The question is, what kind of individuals are we getting from other states, and where they are going to land once they finish their term?” said Burkett, a member of the Senate committee that helps set prison policy. “I’m willing to listen to arguments why a private prison would be better. But it’s not just the money. Having an Idaho-run prison has advantages in our ability to control it and maintain the quality.”