Idaho inmates arrive at Oklahoma prison

BOISE – More Idaho inmates have been transferred out of state to relieve overcrowding at home, this time to a facility in Oklahoma.

The Department of Correction completed the transfer Wednesday when 120 inmates arrived at the North Fork Correctional Center in Sayre, Okla., run by the private Corrections Corp. of America.

About 430 additional Idaho inmates are already serving time at two prisons in Texas operated by the GEO Group, Inc. Idaho plans to enter into contracts for more out-of-state beds before the end of the year.

Idaho has an overall inmate population of more than 7,000, but lacks the room to house all of them in state prisons or county jails.

This week’s latest transfer comes after reports this summer about deplorable conditions at a prison in Texas, the Dickens County Correctional Facility. Idaho officials acknowledge they failed to provide adequate oversight of Idaho inmates in other states. The reports surfaced in the wake of the suicide of an Idaho inmate.

For this latest move, Correction Department Director Brent Reinke visited the Oklahoma facility in July and reported it is well-run, clean and equipped with better medical and rehabilitation programs.

“We’d prefer these inmates do their time in Idaho,” Reinke said in a statement Wednesday. “But the fact is there is simply no more room.”

Reinke said a new “virtual prison” oversight system he helped create after problems emerged in Texas will help ensure that similar concerns don’t re-emerge.

About 33 percent of Idaho’s prisoners are now assigned to county jails or out-of-state prisons, and Reinke said that number is expected to grow in coming years. He’s exploring options to build new facilities, and plans to introduce a proposal later this year to construct a new, privately run prison in Idaho to house more than 1,000 inmates.