Idaho Prison Blog

In an agreement signed on January 22, 2020 by the IDOC and CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA) approximately 1,000 Idaho prisoners will be transferred to the Kit Carson facility near Burlington, Colorado to serve their sentences. In statements made by the IDOC Director Josh Tewalt on the KTVB Channel 7 program "Viewpoint" on Sunday (1/26/2020), prisoners who have longer sentences, and are medium custody will be targeted for transfer. CoreCivic, the same company that was sued by the IDOC for falsifying records concerning thousands of hours of short staffing, intentionally creating an unsafe environment where inmates 'ran the asylum' and where video of staff watching as one prisoner beat another nearly to death at the Idaho Correctional Center (dubbed Gladiator School by inmates and the press) south of Boise is still available on the web, settled the lawsuit with the state for approximately $1M is now touted by Tewalt as the saving grace f...

Preparing to file a lawsuit involves a number of steps - the first being the identification of issues, known as "claims" before beginning to exhaust administrative or other remedies. Below is a list of claims that Dale Shackelford has compiled in preparing to file suit against the IDOC. Shackelford is also researching the matter of delays in prisoner emails, both incoming and outgoing where IDOC SOP allows up to 5 days for prisoners to be notified of confiscations, and 10 days for review of the confiscation by investigators. Snail-mail must be delivered within 24 hours, not including holidays or weekends. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to censor email where there is no such censorship of USPS delivered or sent mail (except in certain circumstances) and is required to be sealed prior arriving at the mailroom. Indeed, Shackelford can document several instances where a censored (confiscated) email and/or photo was printed, sent and received by prisoners within a matter...

There was a line in a movie once that started, "You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to cable television...". While IDOC prisoners may not have a right to television, most are allowed to purchase their own TVs (at a price that can only be described as criminal) and the facilities provide the signals (cable or satellite) - paid for by kickbacked funds prisoners are overcharged on commissary goods, telephones and emails - not a cent of tax dollars are being used. At the ISCC, there are a limited number of satellite receivers used to provide programming, but unlimited opportunities for expansion. Many of these channels are religious programming, and there are 4 purely sports channels, not including the major networks that regularly air various games and sports analysis. There are also 2 channels available which are simply not being used (see a list of the channels available below). Despite Governor Little's focus on the importance of education in Idaho, an...

In the time Chris Johnson has been Corizon's Health Services Administrator (HSA) at the ISCC, several medical staff have either resigned or transferred reportedly due to his "style" of oversight, including asking, and at times requiring trained medical personnel to lie to prisoners about availability of medical equipment and services and either suggesting or asking staff to falsify documents - despite Mr. Johnson having no licence to practice medicine. In one instance, a medical "provider" (a physician's assistant or PA) informed ISCC prisoner Dale Shackelford that despite his medical need, he would not be granted a medical memo authorizing a "mattress topper," effectively a mattress pad designed to alleviate hot spots and to cushion areas which prevented Shackelford from getting more than a few hours of sleep per night. Per the PA (who no longer works at the ISCC) this refusal was passed down from Chris Johnson who stated that no inmates were allo...

After a short hiatus, Idaho Prison Blog is again in full swing, bringing you more news, information and links to other sites that you, friends and family can use to keep up with the goings on at the ISCC, the IDOC and beyond. Remember, you can subscribe to this site for free - just click on the SUBSCRIBE button to be notified any time a new article is posted. You can also comment on any articles, past or present, or submit your own posts. You can also suggest other sites that may be helpful and we'll add a link (after we look at them of course). If you find any problems with this site, or any links, please report them to the site administrator or contact me directly using one of the methods available in the sidebar below. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season. Dale Shackelford

What to do when a name disappears from your JPay contact list? What do you do when you have no idea why - or how the contact disappeared? Were they fed up with you, or did the prison or JPay remove them from your list without notice to anyone? Sometimes, people on the outside - at least in the beginning of a relationship - don't want to give out their physical address or telephone number (and sometimes their real names) to prisoners... understandable... but when that person unexpectedly drops off your contact list (and presumably, your name dropped off their contact list), how then do you let your new friend know that it wasn't you (the prisoner) who did it? You don't - usually. In some cases, contacting the investigations unit at your facility may reveal if, and why [they] removed a contact from your list. You can also contact JPay using a trouble ticket (which will likely take them nearly a month to give you a noncommittal answer) asking if the contact requested their nam...

Imagine that when one of your co-workers was late to work your entire department was docked a weeks pay for his tardiness - or if your child's entire class had a well earned field trip and three days of classes canceled because someone in her class shoplifted a pack of gum at the grocery store. Is this type of collective punishment appropriate even where those punished have no say in the actions of others? Should these punishments extend even to the denial of medical treatment? Despite IDOC SOP and regulations preventing any prisoner from having any supervisory or other authority over another inmate, prison administrators at the ISCC continue to utilize "peer pressure" tactics to maintain control of prisoners by punishing (usually by locking down) entire housing units (tiers) when only one prisoner assigned to that tier gets into even a minor altercation or fight with another - even when the offending prisoner is removed from the tier to the hole, or assigned to another...

In an email sent to prisoners on February 27, 2019 from an unidentified (but presumably an IDOC administrative) source, several prohibitions on the content of outgoing videograms were listed. Below is a copy of that email: //////////////// 02/27/2019 RE: Rules for VideoGrams Please note the following rules for VideoGrams: > 30 second video taken at the JPay kiosk > Cost to send is 2 e-Stamps (same as friends and family pay) > May be sent as an attachment to an email or sent alone > All outbound VideoGrams are automatically held until reviewed for release (just like incoming) > Rules (All match with our current mail and JPay rules): > Inmates must be seated at the kiosk when taking photos. > Inmates must be wearing IDOC approved clothing (not altered/no wife beaters). > No photos of their tattoos. (Pointing out tattoos). > No showing of the stomach, chest or any other body part that is covered by IDOC uniform. > No unapproved hats or head w...

On February 13, 2019, JPay launched outgoing videogram services for prisoners at the ISCC and other facilities that were not already a part of the beta testing of the program. These 30 second videos may be sent to anyone on the inmates' (email) contact list, but people on the street must download the videogram app to their phone to view the video. If you can send a videogram to an inmate, then you already have the app on your phone. To get the free app on your Apple or Android phone, go to www.jpay.com and follow the instructions. Each video, incoming or outgoing, costs 2 eStamps to send.

While the debate over the death penalty in the United States rages on, few people realize that life without parole (LWOP) is nothing more than a death sentence on the installment plan. These prisoners, competent enough to either stand trial or plead guilty, should be able to make the decision to end their lives when there is no more viable life to live. Without regard as to how much it costs to house a prisoner, it is clearly in the best interest of society - and to prisoners - to allow LWOP inmates to decide that, like terminally ill patients, the quality of life in prison and hopelessness in the knowledge that freedom will never again be theirs is such that death is preferred. To allow prisoners the option to choose to end what is effectively an irreversible and terminal situation is not only humane, but in the public interest. Like most life forms, the primary function of human beings is procreation and protection of offspring. Humans also strive to innovate and create, to explore a...