Idaho Prison Blog

Gerrymandering - legally defined as "An unfair method adopted by a political party in control of the legislature, whereby the boundaries of election districts are altered and arranged as to prevent a majority vote in such districts in favor of the opposing political party." As a practical matter, it means fixing the boundary lines of legislative districts so as to give an unfair advantage to one political party. Based on U.S. Census records, the state legislature creates districts throughout the state based on population records. College students, military personnel, boarding schools and temporary residents are counted by the Census Bureau at their home address, but in Idaho, state prisoners are counted at the address of the prison - giving some districts (particularly Idaho Legislative Districts 14 - 22) inflated population numbers. Because state prisoners are not allowed to vote, and may never again be allowed to vote after having been convicted, it is rare that any state R...

Beatings of prisoners by other prisoners (and by staff) are unfortunately more common than reported by the media. Even when such beatings result in permanent injury, or even death, the Idaho Department of Correction often refuse to acknowledge the assaults, do their best to keep video of the incidents out of the hands of the public, and certainly cover up the fact that they knew (or should have known) the beatings would occur. Let's look at an example of what will certainly result in the beating of a prisoner at the ISCC if staff fail to intervene in a timely manner. Inmate Bubba (not his real name due to prison regulations) has on several occasions been in fights because of his odd, annoying, threatening and assaultive behavior while in prison. Most recently, Bubba has been in two separate physical altercations with other prisoners over a dayroom television on tier F3, as Bubba likes to believe he is the person who decides what is watched, and who watches it. When Bubba doesn'...

In response to a public records request (PRR), the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) provided records which were prepared by an inmate for the specific purpose of disclosure as an official public record. Further, other official records disclosed pursuant to the same request provided false, misleading or denied existence of specific records known to exist, thereby subjecting state officials to consequences described in Idaho Code. On November, 22, 2023, Dale Shackelford submitted public record request #R016187-112223 asking for records which disclosed information related primarily to interactions between the IDOC and the administration-supported American Legion Post 201 [FN1], a [de facto] prison gang operating in the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC). After requesting and receiving clarification on one of the requests [FN2] the IDOC produced an email from Lawrence Stuhr, an instructor in the Idaho State Correctional Institution (ISCI) Education Department to Jeff Kirkman, a pr...

On 11/27/23 at 10:09 am, someone identified as C. Wellman at the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC) in Kuna, Idaho signed for and received 2 authorized packages addressed to prisoner Dale Shackelford. One of these packages was delivered to Shackelford on 12/4/23. Days later, it was clear the second package, with contents worth over $90.00, had disappeared. What to do... first, because Shackelford provided the sender of the packages (Blick Art Materials) with his email address with his order, he had emails from Blick detailing the Order number, and tracking numbers of each box (sent via FedEx) - along with a list of contents/value contained in each box. With help from a friend on the outside, Shackelford was able to track both packages and determined when and by whom they were received at the ISCC. Both boxes were delivered and signed for at the same time at the ISCC according to FedEx. Shortly after learning there were no IDOC employees named C. Wellman, Shackelford filed a public ...

Once in awhile I'll receive an email, a letter or postcard, asking me why I didn't write/post articles on various things which [obviously] have public interest regarding the Idaho Department of Correction or one of the facilities, staff or prisoners. Some believe I am caving in to administrative pressures not to write about specific subjects, others have suggested that I just don't care about some issues. Both are far from the truth. But, these are great question(s) all, so I'll do what I can to explain. First, I'm a prisoner - and not one of those inmates that receive special privileges and dispensations (including unlimited/unsupervised internet access, laptop computers and other unbelievable amenities) that I have described in several posts since this site began operation in November, 2017. This means that most of the information I am privvy to comes - at least initially - through rumor, grapevine, innuendo or leaks. Once I learn of an issue, I have to check it o...

Christmas dinner is a tradition in millions of households around the world, and in most prisons throughout the US. That tradition holds true in Idaho prisons as well, and while prison food cannot hold a Yuletide candle to a home-cooked meal prepared and served with loving hands and heart, and shared with family and friends, it is often better than the standard fare. In addition to the Christmas meal, prisoners at the ISCC were treated to miniature packages of small cookies (4 traditional Oreo cookies, 4 Nutter Butter cookies and 4 Chocolate chip). Later we received 2 more mini cookies (vanilla Oreos), a total of 14 cookies. Not bad considering the fact we received no cookies for the past few years during the Christmas holiday season. This year, the Christmas dinner menu at the Idaho State Correctional Center called for: 2.5 oz. Roasted Turkey 2.5 oz. Honey Roasted Ham 1/2 cup Corn Casserole 1/2 cup MASHED POTATOES 1/2 cup Poultry Gravy 1 cup Garden Salad 1 oz. Ranch Dressing 3.25 oz. P...

Within hours of posting on this site my recent article ANOTHER STATE PRISON SYSTEM MAKES ALL INMATE CALLS FREE , I received an email from Scott McIntosh containing a copy of an article he had written for the Idaho Statesman, published November 26, 2023 regarding the same issues I covered in my piece - but from a completely different perspective (as one might expect). If you get a chance, his article is great read on what is going on with the inmate telephone/video visiting systems in Idaho and beyond. Don't forget to go back and re-read my article too. Here's the link I was provided by Mr. McIntosh for his article: https://idahostatesman.com/opinion/from-the-opinion-editor/article282224548.html Dale

In January, 2023, I posted an article on this site titled ISCC PROVIDES MISINFORMATION TO NEWS MEDIA LOOKING INTO DECREPIT CONDITIONS IN THE PRISON . In March, 2023 I authored and posted another piece titled IDAHO TAXPAYERS PAYING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR SHOWER TRAILERS WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN USED. In October, 2023 I followed up with yet another piece titled ISCC 'SHOWER TRAILERS' FINALLY REMOVED, ALONG WITH $184,708.62 OF TAXPAYER MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN. In a nutshell, these articles concerned self-contained showering trailers that were dragged to the Idaho State Correctional Center from Nevada because the hot water system at the prison (i.e., boilers) had gone down, leaving the main section of the facility without hot water for showers, washing and other necessities. These trailers sat, unused, at the ISCC for more than 9 months, while the payments continued to accrue. Shortly after I posted the last article on this topic, I received an email (within hours in fact) regarding t...

Around October, 2022 - possibly even before that, the Meridian Canine Rescue [www.meridiancaninerescue.org] (MCR) took over the "dog program" at the Idaho State Correctional Center (ISCC), a program previously operated by the Idaho Humane Society. With the takeover, and some questionable activities associated with the program (and inmates participating in same) several emails sent to MCR staff have gone unanswered. Almost everyone wants to see a prison dog program succeed, giving unwanted or homeless dogs opportunities to become socialized, receive medical care, exercise, basic training and ultimately a good home in the community where they can live the dog's life. What most everyone does NOT want to see is undue [and dangerous] favoritism, lack of (prison) security, misuse of funds - especially funds which have been donated by the public - abuse of animals or violations of laws in the effort to home these animals (the dogs, not the prisoners). Prisoners who have certain ...

On 12/4/2023, the Idaho Department of Administration signed a contract (Number 4543) on behalf of the Idaho Department of Correction with a company located in Meridian, ID to provide closed circuit television (CCTV) services to state prisons (and work centers) located south of Boise. The vendor/contractor, Praxis Limited Co. (dba A+ Satellite) provided the lowest of 3 bids obtained for providing a minimum 32 "Core Package" channels from Dish Satellite services (including at least one add-on 'sports' channel), all available over-the-air (OTA) channels [FN1] as well as the necessary hardware for two years beginning February 15, 2024. The name of the package to be installed is called the "A+ Satellite Extreme Economy Pack". The two year, $527,836.08 contract may be renewed, extended or amended three additional terms of one year each. IDOC facilities to receive services under this contract are IMSI, ISCI, SICI, ISCC, TVCRC and SBWCC, and will provide service to ...