Canyon County jail to close tent facility due to escapes

NAMPA, Idaho – Canyon County is shutting down a tent facility used by the county jail after a number of escapes and the potential for additional ones.

The Idaho Statesman reports that Canyon County jail officials are working to move the 86 inmates currently housed in the tent lockup after county commissioners told Sheriff Kieran Donahue on Thursday to shut the program down.

In the past 18 months, there have been four escapes from the facility involving five inmates. Most recently, two inmates left the facility on Saturday. They have since been recaptured.

County officials say moving the inmates out of the facility will not be as easy as marching them down to the jail and that judges and prosecutors will have to be consulted before any inmates are moved or released.