IDAHO TAXPAYERS PAYING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR SHOWER TRAILERS WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN USED
When the boilers that provide hot water to the main facility at the ISCC went down in late 2022, there was little to no hot water for more than a month before parts for the ageing system could be procured and installed. Indeed, it wasn't until late January that the system was back to providing hot water at levels necessary for proper hygiene and cleaning - despite what the IDOC told the news media who started covering the problem in late December (see the post ISCC PROVIDES MISINFORMATION TO NEWS MEDIA LOOKING INTO DECREPIT CONDITIONS IN THE PRISON on this site).
In an effort to cover their... bases, IDOC administrators entered into a contract with United Site Services of Nevada, a company that rents trailers containing '"7 - 8 [shower] stalls" (depending on configuration needs) to provide two such trailers on site at the ISCC. Cost to the taxpayers to rent the two trailers for the duration of the contract? A mere $20,013.18, per month, beginning 12/30/22, and ending [at the earliest] 4/20/23 - not counting the one time delivery fee of $5,044.40. By my calculations, if we round down the contract term to only 3 months, that equates to a bit more than $65,000. In actuality, it's more than $80,000.
On a positive note, because the showers have not been used, the IDOC is saving $6,016.66 per WEEK because the vendor doesn't have to service the trailers. Based on the data supplied, it is unclear if the vendor, or the IDOC would be responsible for providing or filling the (4) 40 lb. propane tanks needed for each trailer to supply hot water, though context indicates that "servicing" the trailers would include emptying water disposal tanks and filling propane tanks. It is clear however that the IDOC would have been responsible for providing (3) 20amp, 110v dedicated electrical circuits, and the water source for each unit.
According to facility maintenance personnel, the electrical and water sources required to use the showers are currently unavailable in any area where the trailers might be placed for use by prisoners inside the secure area of the prison, and there was never a plan to install them. Further, it would necessarily have been known by IDOC/ISCC administrators that the time and expense necessary to provide the required electrical and water sources would prevent using the showers within any reasonable time after their arrival.
Clearly, the rental of the shower trailers was simply for show, a means to placate the public and media regarding the failure to perform regular preventative maintenance at the ISCC, and the failure/refusal to keep necessary parts and experienced personnel available to deal with inevitable breakdowns of essential equipment. According to other data obtained, the money for renting the shower trailers is coming from the maintenance budget, meaning there is a significant negative-sum gain between the cost of the rental of the trailers, and the cost to perform preventative maintenance on the boilers. (This money could also have been used to provide the satellite television channels that were recently removed from ISCC prisoners.)
Can someone explain why the IDOC - a state agency - is contracting with a Nevada company to provide these shower trailers rather than using an Idaho business (if indeed there is such a business in Idaho)? For that matter, the IDOC could have built their own stand-alone showering facility for less than what is being paid for renting the trailers for 4 months.
One must address the elephant in the room... was there some sort of relationship between the person/people who decided on this course of action (i.e., renting the trailers) and the choice of vendor? That's a lot of taxpayer money being spent (out of state) on something that someone in the IDOC/ISCC knew (or should have known) would never be used. Even were there a likelihood that the trailers would have been used, that someone would certainly have known the boilers would have been repaired long before April 20, 2023 contract expiration.
For more information on the Large Gold Series shower trailers (GS34080) rented by the IDOC using YOUR tax dollars, visit the vendor's webpage at www.unitedsiteservices.com. You can also request more information from the IDOC about the shower trailer contract by using the department's public records request portal. Simply click on the IDOC PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST link on the left sidebar of your computer screen on this page, or contact Janice Packard, IDOC Purchasing Agent/Manager by email at japackar@idoc.idaho.gov or by phone at (208) 658-2175.
Somebody's gotta pay for this... and for now, it's you.