ISCC PROVIDES MISINFORMATION TO NEWS MEDIA LOOKING INTO DECREPIT CONDITIONS IN THE PRISON

In news reports during the last week of December, 2022, ISCC officials have advised the media who have been investigating a lack of hot water for showers at the prison that of the 3 boilers that provide hot water to approximately 1,800 of the 2,200 prisoners at the facility, 1 went offline on December 17th, and a second went down on December 24th. If the reporting of the media is accurate, then the[ir] source data is incorrect.

In fact, 1 of the boilers went down in early December, with the second going on and off intermittently before it and the third going completely offline on December 20, despite what IDOC news releases may have contained. In an article posted on this site titled CHRISTMAS SPIRIT LACKING THIS YEAR sent from the prison on December 16, 2022, I wrote the following:

"The food has been virtually inedible lately, we've lived with little if any hot water most of the month, the TV channels are almost always out, and administrators refuse even to address the issues, even ignoring legitimate and properly submitted concern forms."

According to maintenance personnel, the boiler malfunctions are due simply to a lack of routine or preventative maintenance. Indeed, the boilers are constantly going out, usually several times a year, but only because it happened at the coldest time of the year has it garnered so much attention.

In a December 30, 2022 television newscast, KTVB Channel 7 in the Boise area reported that the ISCC had also addressed water leaks from the roof dripping into cells and onto bunks of prisoners, but that when such leaks are reported, the inmate is moved to different housing. That information too is false, as untold numbers of prisoners at the ISCC are at this moment dealing not only with leaking roofs, but leaking foundations, bursted valves and dripping pipe connections, causing water to pool in cell floors and common areas throughout the facility.

Inmate maintenance workers are left to correct (re: patch) significant maintenance problems during non-business hours, with usually unfulfilled promises that the problems will be fully corrected when maintenance staff return to work the next day/week.

Although the news reports have focused on the lack of hot water for inmate showers (most of the public could care less what the water temperature of inmate showers might be), as reported in my Christmas Spirit post, the lack of hot water in the facility affects not only inmate showers, but laundry services (designed to use hot, not cold water), washing and sanitization of pots/pans and the cleaning of food preparation areas in food service, placing prisoners and staff in dangerous conditions. This doesn't even cover the fact that neither prisoners - nor staff - can effectively wash their hands in a manner necessary to prevent the spread of virus, bacteria and disease. Only when that sickness hops the fence and makes its way into the community and schools will the matter be one of more concern to the public as the prison is identified as ground-zero.

On the other hand, I can report that while there have also been televised reports of extremely cold temperatures in housing areas/cells, the area in which I am housed is relatively comfortable - at least where temperature is concerned. Part of the problem however is that, at least in the north wing (Units D, E and F specifically), the 3 individual wings (inexplicably improperly known as 'tiers') are each divided into 3 separate zones for purposes of heating/cooling. I cannot intelligently speak to the conditions of housing in other areas of the prison, though it's likely the issues are similar.

Some of the cells [face] different (compass) directions, and their outside facing walls get more sunlight than others. Some cells, facing in the same direction, are in constant shade, the sun blocked by other sections of the building. This creates a problem keeping each of the zones the same (optimum) temperature. Exacerbating the problem is a few of the cells also have 2 walls which are considered 'outside' walls, and are significantly colder than the cell directly adjacent to it.

Walk down the main hallways at the ISCC after a rain (or snow melt) and there will be towels, mop heads and blankets soaking up water on the floors, and streaks from water, some calcified after years of dripping, running down the walls. In some areas you can look up, through the roof, and into the sky where the buildings don't quite align, and hear birds and other animals/insects nesting in eaves. Pop open a service panel above a row of cells and notice water, pooled several inches deep in some places, with mold and slime growing on the walls.

Open the records of the ISCC and ask where the tax dollars - YOUR tax dollars - appropriated to the Idaho Department of Correction by the legislature over the years to fix these problems, have gone. I'll bet you'll be amazed (and furious) at the answers.