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Eye On Boise

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  3. Further budget cuts would mean releasing prisoners

Further budget cuts would mean releasing prisoners

This photo shows the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. Idaho's corrections chief told lawmakers Friday that budget cuts are hitting prisons hard enough that even prison guards are now taking unpaid furloughs, and further cuts beyond those already recommended by the governor for next year will mean releasing prisoners. (Betsy Russell)
This photo shows the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. Idaho's corrections chief told lawmakers Friday that budget cuts are hitting prisons hard enough that even prison guards are now taking unpaid furloughs, and further cuts beyond those already recommended by the governor for next year will mean releasing prisoners. (Betsy Russell)

Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on Idaho's prison budget situation: Lawmakers were warned today that the only way to cut more deeply into the state prison budget than Gov. Butch Otter already has proposed is to begin releasing prisoners. Budget cuts have hit the state's prison system hard enough that even guards in already-understaffed prisons are now taking 28 unpaid furlough hours a year.

Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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