Idaho Prison Blog

During a recent broadcast, a producer for the Casper and Chris (Talk Radio) show on [93.1 fm/670 am] KBOI made a comment regarding a means of Idaho (and other States for that matter) carrying out executions of prisoners. His off-hand comment got me to thinking... The producer (name withheld) opined that someone might outfit a tractor-trailer to be used as a mobile death chamber that could be used to travel the country, performing executions. There is precedent kind of thing, though not exactly on point. The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) - as do most states - contracts with any number of for-profit corporate vendors and contractors to provide services to the department and to prisoners, whether to create an impediment to liability, receive financial kickbacks, or both. To fully realize the corporate model, a company looking to privatize and outsource the execution process could procure and maintain chemicals required for lethal injection (vary by jurisdiction), am...

In what has been a continuous and well-documented issue (see IDOC'S NEW SATELLITE TV CONTRACT IS A BUST - parts 1-3 on this site), the satellite television contract between the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) and A+ Satellite located in Meridian, ID to provide satellite TV services to prisoners housed in the South Boise Complex (SBC) may soon head to court for litigation. According to an attorney consulted on the matter, prisoners have up to three (3) separate means to have the contract reviewed, interpreted and/or enforced by the courts. The first of the possibilities is to file an action against the IDOC and/or the Idaho Department of Administration (Division of Purchasing) through a Petition for Writ of Mandate (aka, Mandamus), asking the courts to Order the state agency to require A+ to conform the satellite TV system to the contractual requirements. The second option would be for the prisoners themselves to sue A+ Satellite Services to enforce the conditio...