Lawmakers see the real thing inside state prisons

Space for housing the severely mentally ill and rehabilitating drug offenders is lacking in Idaho prisons, legislators learned firsthand Tuesday on a tour of state lockups south of Boise. Two dozen lawmakers visited a crowded mental health ward, talked with inmates in a coveted treatment program and toured a semi-permanent but flimsy structure housing inmates – similar to a new one Gov. Butch Otter has proposed building this year. S-R reporter Parker Howell went along on the tour; read his full report in today’s Spokesman-Review.