STAFF SHORTAGES AT THE ISCC - PROXIMATE CAUSE TO INCREASED VIOLENCE AND INJURY

In previous information provided to ISCC prisoners by administrators, the chow hall would not be used for feeding until there were enough officers to cover other activities - including recreation. While the chow hall is now serving meals (take-out style) while 10 to 15 guards look on (rather than a single unit guard feeding an entire unit), recreation is continuously being cancelled due to lack of staff, and the safety of prisoners and staff, just like recreation, is taking a back seat to convenience.

While a lack of correctional officers is in and of itself a concern, so too should be the fact that those who are on duty are not actually [or properly] supervising prisoners. In some cases, having a camera in an area is enough to consider the prisoners "supervised", whether or not prisoners are within the field of view - or the camera feed is being monitored. So long as using this loose interpretation of supervision reduces the actual work being done by guards, it will continue.

Take the recent case of inmate Bubba (not his real name due to prison regulations) who was walking down the hallway when he was jumped by 2 other inmates who were housed in a different unit. First, at the time of the beating, none of the three inmates should have been in the corridor as there were no officers posted in the area. Second, prisoners from different units are not even supposed to be in the hallway at the same time.

In another case, an inmate released from the ISCC maximum security housing to general population entered his newly assigned housing unit and immediately began beating another inmate with whom he had had previous problems. To prevent such violence, officers are supposed to escort prisoners moving from one unit (especially G block) to their new cell/bunk so as to determine the attitude and body language of the prisoners in response to the move. That did not happen in this instance.

Upon being "dropped off" in F block, unit staff simply pointed to tier 3 and told the inmate to move in. Once the guy entered the tier, he pushed the cart with his property through the door, parked it, walked over to another inmate sitting at a table, shook his hand, and commenced beating him for several minutes - in full site of staff and cameras - while unit staff in the control (bubble) listened to music on a confiscated radio that should have been sent to the property room for disposal (as required by policy) months before.

Only after another inmate ran across the upper level of the dayroom and down the stairs to assist his battered and bloodied friend did guards respond to the beating. It was so serious that the entire tier was locked down and declared a crime scene while the Ada County Sheriff's Department photographed and documented the scene in their efforts investigate the assault.

Still, the practice of just tossing inmates into new housing areas without escort continues.

The IDOC sued the Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic) when that company operated the Idaho State Correctional Center for failing to maintain staffing levels required by contract. Now the state has staffing levels even lower than did CCA, yet taxpayers are paying even more to keep fewer staff on site.

It's clear the risk to both staff and prisoners increases exponentially when the ratio of prisoners to guards is out of balance, so maybe there is an easy solution (in my simple view)... there's not too few guards, there's too many prisoners.