Idaho Prison Blog

On April 17, 2020 IDOC Director Josh Tewalt emailed the Idaho prisoner population that IDOC would subsidize part of the cost of calls, email stamps, and other avenues of communication. Days later, the cost of estamps dropped from (the best package price of) 32¢ to 16¢ each. According to the Director, the reduced rates were to facilitate more communication between prisoners and those in the outside world. I guess these communications are no longer a priority as once again, JPay (and the IDOC) have raised the price of estamps, without notice. Sometime after mid-May, 2022, in the middle of the night and without a word, the price of estamps nearly doubled. Whether this increase is a result of JPay raising prices or the IDOC no longer "subsidizing" the reduced rate is unknown. (Note: "subsidizing' in this context means simply that the IDOC didn't take their full 40% commission on each stamp sold.) In either case, the result is the same. Estamps, which have absolutely ...

FROM: Christine Starr Chief of Staff DATE: 06/23/2022 Hello IDOC Residents, Ada County is now at a HIGH LEVEL for COVID community transmission, as such, effective (6/23/22) at 6:00 a.m., masks are required in the following facilities: ISCC, SBWCC, IMSI, ISCI, SICI, TV CRC, and EB CRC. I know this is not welcome news, but please know that with the consent of our State Epidemiologists, we will revise the mask requirement as quickly as it is safe to do so. Additionally, the following restrictions are now in place: Visitation for the facilities identified above is suspended until further notice Testing remains required for: > Symptomatic staff and residents > RDU > Moving an individual from their cohort or from one facility to another > Releasing an individual into the community Classes and treatment may still occur within cohorts, as long as there is proper spacing and masks are being worn by all participants The quarantine/isolation protocols for crisis staffing remain in pla...

On June 22, 2022 prisoners at the ISCC learned that the institution will be going back to Covid-19 protocols the morning of June 23, meaning that prisoners will be segregated (or "cohorted") - in this instance - by housing unit. This also means that recreation, education, programming and inmate work details will be restricted or cancelled altogether. A moratorium on inter-unit cell (housing) moves will also be in effect. Mask mandates for both staff and prisoners alike are also reinstated. That's what is SUPPOSED to happen. Although there has been no memorandum posted, email received or other official notification of the status change, there was said to have been a news report on KIVI TV Channel 6 on the evening of June 22 that visitation in all IDOC facilities has been suspended. The visitation suspension (until at least July 9, 2022) has been verified through an independent source. On the morning of June 23, it became somewhat clear that there had been some movement/coh...

Idaho, as do most jurisdictions in the United States, refers to their state detention (prison) institutions as "Correctional" facilities, "Rehabilitation" and sometimes Pre-Release centers. These same institutions, in countries considered politically unfriendly to the US, are often referred to by American media and government spokespersons as "Gulags", "Internment", "Reeducation", even "Concentration" camps. Jails and prisons in countries aligned with the US government - though known to consistently violate basic human rights, like Mexico - are simply not discussed. In a report aired May 24, 2022 on Idaho Public Television's WORLD channel, the German news program (DW) interviewed Adrian Zenz, an expert on China's Ethnic Policies regarding recently leaked photos of abuse of (ethnic minority) Uyghurs (pronounced "Wee-gers") held in an internment camp in central China. The photos, which were said to have been ha...

In 2018 I posted an article on this site titled IDOC ADMINISTRATORS CLARIFY JPAY EMAIL TIMELINES... SORT OF. In the four years since, people continue to ask why it takes so long to get JPay "media" (mail, photos, videos) to or from prisoners, so it's time for a recap of the procedures the media go through before it's released or delivered. (It may also be time for another lawsuit.) First, (and it really pains me to say this) the delays in sending or receiving media are not the fault of, or a problem with JPay, rather, the problem is with the facility where the prisoner is housed, where the media can sit for hours, days or weeks before being reviewed by staff. Here's how this works (according to "those in the know"): You send media to a prisoner (we'll call him/her Bubba) via JPay. The media then goes to JPay servers in southern Florida, then to the facility where Bubba is housed. If an email does not contain any of the words or phrases that the compu...

On the morning of Saturday, May 21st prisoners woke to a posted memo seeking inmate volunteers for a "research project", though there is no indication what the research consists of, what will be done with the data, and more importantly, by who (or is it "whom?) it is sponsored. Idaho law does allow information and data about prisoners and their families/friends (including the most sensitive data) to be used for research, though IDOC draws the line at (physical) medical/pharmaceutical/cosmetic research and trials (IDOC Policy 134.05.07.00). Years ago, at the IMSI, a (non-security) staff member passed out questionnaires to prisoners and ordered they be filled out. Although the document stated inmates were not required to identify themselves, the staff member noted prisoner's names and cell numbers on the paperwork as she collected the completed documents. Although Department employees may conduct research on prisoners (without a written proposal) it was subsequently le...

As most people know, many prescribed medications are time sensitive, with the need to take the drugs on a regular schedule being critical both to their effectiveness and to prevent under or overdosing. At the ISCC, the time between prisoners receiving their prescribed medications day to day varies up to 6 hours, meaning one might get their evening meds at 5 pm today, and 11 pm tomorrow. The distribution of medications to prisoners at the ISCC (known as pill call) is, admittedly, extensive. With psychological counseling limited to about 10 minutes per inmate every 3 months or so, psychotropic meds are handed out like Christmas candies in lieu of hiring therapists. Aged prisoners with physical maladies, young men with sprains and strains, post-surgical recovery, and the ever present bacterial and viral infections are all treated with drugs handed out by sour-faced, ill-trained medical contractors while groups of 50 or so prisoners wait in line amongst mounds of garbage for their pills, 3...