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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Investigator: Prison medical records may have been destroyed

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Reports from a state investigator and three staffers at an Idaho prison suggest that inmates' medical records may have been intentionally changed or destroyed in violation of a federal court order. The report from Idaho Bureau of Occupational Licenses investigator Cindy Stephenson is one of several documents filed in connection with a whistleblower lawsuit brought by a former mental health care provider at the Idaho State Correctional Institution. The state prison is already under close federal court scrutiny because of a long-running class action lawsuit over substandard health care and other problems. The attorney in the whistleblower case, Andrew Schoppe, sent a letter to U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Thursday to alert the judge to what Schoppe said is the potential destruction of evidence in the federal case. Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray said the department couldn't comment on the matter because of the pending litigation.



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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