IDAHO STATE CORRECTIONS TOUR, OROFINO, MARCH 11, 1998
Jean Jacobson, Katrina Berman, Jo O'Donnell, Carol Woodall, Janet Lecompte.
Our guide for the over three-hour tour was Deputy Warden Eric
McFachern, a former logger who was hired in 1984 after eight weeks of
formal training and five weeks of special training, and has been here ever
since. Comments in the following summary are his; I tried hard not to edit
them.
Today there are 127 civilian employees here and 485 prisoners, all male;
two hundred women are imprisoned in Pocatello. This facility has the same
controls as the one in Boise, except that they have work camps here, and
handle violent offenders, as they don't in the other prisons. The fences
have motion detectors, and no prisoners are allowed outside the fence
without hand cuffs and leg irons. This prison is like that at Boise, same
controls and work camps. A privately-built and -run prison will be in Boise
in about a year. A private company can build a cheaper building--Louisiana
was the cheapest for the number of beds, but more expensive in the end.
This facility holds up to 507 men, although the design capacity is
427. Pocatello has one woman on death row; Boise takes care of the death
row men--none here. Idaho has had only one execution since 1984. The Idaho
Prison Litigation Reform act forbids law libraries or pursuance of divorces
here. Eric Jensen, sociologist at UI, says that children are tried as
adults now. Society wavers from "Tough on Crime" to "It Costs Too Much."
It's all political, says the Deputy Warden--the voters determine how many
and which ones end up here.
MAXIMUM SECURITY
A third of the prisoners are in close custody in A-block (Maximum
Security), which has 32 two-inmate pie-shaped cells, one period allowed out
of cell per week. Prisoners are not segregated by age or crime; all from
hardened criminals to drunks to kids in trouble are here together in
Maximum Security. Most prisoners here are young, new to prison life, angry
and untamed, who frequently fight or riot, and some manage to escape, but
are caught. The well-publicized Joe Snyder sawed through an 8 1\2" by 12"
thick glass window and pushed his body through it despite the ragged glass
edges.
The Maximum Security building is solid cement, with all modern
technology inside--laminated steel doors ($300 apiece), and all doors have
electronic locks. Monitors are everywhere; every movement in Maximum
Security is monitored. A sort of round watch-tower with thick glass and
many monitors is above the Maximum Security dormitory, watching for fights
that sometimes lead to riots. A lot of the fights that occur here are by or
against Aryan Nation prisoners, the toughest of the lot. Visitors in
Maximum Security can be a problem here, for rioting prisoners can take
visitors hostage.
On entry, prisoners are issued two shirts, two pairs of pants, and
underwear; anything else they need they have to buy at the commissary at a
huge markup. Prisoners live day and night in one large room with a few
tables, and they sleep on narrow cots with no pillows, just a blanket. No
privacy, no cells here; the men play cards and read. Much contraband gets
past the guards--drugs and cigarettes (no smoking allowed anywhere, because
of inmate lawsuits for illness caused by smoke).
Prisoners have to stay in Maximum Security for at least a month,
after which most graduate to Medium Security. For a major crime it is six
months before the prisoner can be in any work unit. Drunk-driving felonies
get prison time i.e., for aggravated drunken manslaughter which is a
mandatory sentence--citizens demanded it. As for writing bad checks, no
one is imprisoned for writing only one check; they have to write many
checks in large amounts and suffer many arrests before they end up here.
Possession of drugs requires plea bargaining--i.e., a drug connection as
accessory to a crime. Lots of the Aryan Nation gang are here for that kind
of crime.
The ethnic makeup is about 90% white, 7% Hispanic, 3% Native
Americans. Aryan Nation prisoners, the most troublesome group, often become
Aryan while they're here. They have a "higher purpose," believe nothing is
their fault. They are the only ones that threaten the institution. There
are 80-100 Aryan nation men here. It's a way to be recognized--"I'm tough,
I'm bad." Aryans attack the child molesters; Hispanics and Indians attack
the Aryans; both are punished for it. The Aryans are tattoo artists, draw
swastikas on their arms. Tattooing is popular here, so there is a high
incidence of hepatitis. There are few work crew jobs in A-block.
A-block has a large visiting room with has no furniture except
round pedestal tables permanently grounded, and round stools attached to
the tables. No conjugal visits here; a greeting and parting kiss is all the
contact allowed, and visitors' conversation is monitored. A-block has
school in the visiting room, also religious services and library visits and
AA and other social programs. Doctors, social workers talk to patients
here, an officer present in every class room.
MEDIUM SECURITY
Medium Security prisoners get out of the cells twice a day for 5 1\2 hours
in all. Half the men at a time are let out for meals.
Classrooms in Phase 2 are smaller. We are taken to a class where a social
worker helps the prisoners examine their own identity in order to change
it, on the principle that changed thinking changes behavior. The men keep
journals and lots of their entries address this principle. A probational
patrol officer is also in the room. The cost of drug and alcohol
counselling programs come out of the General Fund. There are Alcoholics
Anonymous-type meetings, the Twelve Steps and cognitive change, and
"positive self-esteem" counselling that encourages prisoners to reach
conclusions about their crimes. "We try to do things that don't cost money
or threaten society."
Activities include adult-based education, special needs, special
education, Americorps program, job training. Keyboard skills (computers)
are the most popular, and the computer room is always full. Inmates have to
apply for jobs, then they are screened; to work they must have a GED and
good behavior record.
Jobs are switched around, a general movement in jobs. We visit a
workroom where prisoners make license plates and stickers for other state
organizations, and for men working on TV sets. Eighteen workers at a time
are on contract starting at 22 cents, then 44 cents, then $1.10 an hour, a
reward system. The commissary has markups--a $150 TV set costs prisoners
$300. The state gets kickbacks from phone calls; amentities in the
Commissary are marked up very high. Commissary profits go for soccer
balls, prison equipment. Prisoners can earn $20 a month in work crews.
Good workers get premium jobs and double shifts for heavy contracts such as
stickers for Park & Rec. "Down south" (Boise) they have metal shops,
woodworking shops. Anybody in the state can contract with these shops and
their prices are competititve. For prisoners this is custody level, the
choice place with the older inmates. No prisoners with discipline problems
are allowed on work crew.
The kitchen is another favorite work place for prisoners; the
staff serves 1200 meals a day, in three kitchens. Coffee is allowed once in
the morning, although the prisoners can buy it (instant) anytime. The
kitchen bakes good fresh bread every day. Even though some of the kitchen
staff are in for murder, they are rewarded by kitchen work for good
behavior, which is more important in this prison than the enormity of the
crime. It's a reward system--act human and you'll be treated as human.
We saw a work crew in red shirts outside, with no apparent
supervision--they will be out in 18 months. This is the last and best place
to be. No men with discipline problems are allowed on jobs. Work crew is a
favorite thing here--inmates wearing red shirts fight fires, build trails,
get paid $3 an hour, but they don't compete with the Forest Service. During
recent floods prisoners were busy hauling sand bags to river banks for
seven days, and not a single felony occurred during that time.
Female officers here are equal in authority to the men, and they
keep the assault rate of officers down, for inmates don't like men who hit
women. The female staff walk in the men's showers, go everywhere, do all
that the male officers do.
The largest group of prisoners (23%) are sex offenders, mostly with
children; they are taught that they can't ever be around children again.
Otherwise they lead normal lives and make good prisoners, but they are
abused by other prisoners. [The Deputy Warden recommends a book by Samenow
entitled Inside the Criminal Mind]
There are not enough officers; in Boise, two psychologists handle
500 prisoners in the Receiving Diagnostic Unit (RDU) to screen criminals.
The staff here is limited; officers have to patrol constantly, can't stop
patrolling. The transport of prisoners to work camp takes officers off
their jobs, but there have to be officers in every class room.
Rewards for good behavior are the basis of discipline here. If the
prisoners are amenable to the behavioral training, they will be rewarded by
getting out of prison and not returning. Punishment for bad behavior and
backsliders is thirty days in solitary cages, one period out of the cell a
week. No inmate has ever been killed here; there have been a couple of
successful suicides and many officer assaults.
Gibbon Hall is the newest facility, formerly part of the mental
hospital complex and abandoned by the State. It has been totally redone by
the inmates with help of professionalplumbers and electricians. The
remodeling came in $100,000 under budget. It will house the administration
and have 100 beds for prisoners. it houses inmates who leave the prison
complex for work as fire crews, forest management and flood control. The
Warden, Phil Foster, says that what this prison needs is more
rehabilitation. The saddest thing is when children of former inmates end up
here. Good parenting is so important; we should have a mandatory parent
class, but there is no money for it. "We do a lot with nothing." Our
purpose is to change the prisoners' behavior so they can become productive
citizens. All but 1-2% will get out of prison, unless they die, no better
people.
End of prison tour.
*********
On November 17, 1987, the Lewiston Tribune published a front-page
article by Chris Butler in the Idaho Statesman declaring, in headlines,
"Nonviolent crimes fill prisons." It goes on to say, "A decade of
tough-on-crime policies has stocked Idaho correctional facilities past
full, putting behind bars people whose crimes are drug possession and drunk
driving." The article continues: More than $130 million will be spent in
the next two years on new prison cells, mainly to make room for people who
committed these four nonviolent crimes.\They aren't felonies in most
states. Yet they accounted for 35 percent of the people sent to Idaho
prisons last year. \Nearly a fourth of the state's 4,000 inmates are
serving time for them. That's up from just 6 percent ten years ago,
according to an analysis of state Corrections Department records conducted
by a group of state newspapers and television stations.
"It's not the fault of corrections" said Robert Marsh, Criminal
Justice chairman at Boise State University. "They try like crazy to get
funding for treatment and other programs. But it's bricks and mortar that
get the attention of the Legislature. The increase in inmates traces back
to a decade of tough-on-crime policies set by the Idaho Legislature. It is
out of proportion to the state's population growth and crime rate."
The article goes on to say that the Legislature started getting
tough with the passage of the 1986 Truth in Sentencing Law, which
eliminated time off for good behavior and allowed judges to set fixed
sentence lengths. Since then lawmakers have added 14 mandatory minimum
sentence laws to the books...nearly all dealing with drugs, alcohol or
driving. So Idaho inmates stay in prison longer than in all but four
states--an average of 40 months in prison compared with the national
average of 27. Senate President pro-tem Jerry Twiggs says the reason for
longer terms is "to keep bad people off the streets and to protect the
public."
Governor Batt wants to have two crimes dropped from felony to
misdemeanor--writing bad checks under $50 (only one imprisonment in the
last ten years), and driving without a valid license (97 are in for that
charge). He would also give the Parole Commission more discretion to
release inmates, and hire more probation and parole officers. But other
nonviolent crimes, such as drug possession and DUI, account for 709
inmates, 61% of all inmates (compared with 52% in 1992).
Idaho has 55 bad check writers in its prisons, a group that has
grown by 72% in the last decade, which is little compared with increases
in other nonviolent offenses in the last decade--simple drug possession is
up a thousand percent to 352 inmates; DUI is up 892% to 357; and driving
without a valid license is up 1840% to 97. Most states imprison these
offenders but not for as long as five years, as Idaho does.
The no. 1 crime for the past six years has been sexual abuse of
children, accounting for 526 inmates this year or 13% of the total prison
population, compared with 170 offenders ten years ago. This does not mean
more crimes of this nature--in fact sex offenders charged dropped 36% from
1993-1996; what it shows is that Idaho society is taking it more seriously
and demanding punishment for it. Drug use or possession make up the biggest
group of prisoners at 19%, sex crimes follow at 18%.
Other states suffering from shortage of prison cells have decided
to focus on violent offenders. They punish people for driving without a
valid license or driving while intoxicated by perhaps a year in a county
jail, but not with two- to five-year prison sentences. Idaho is one of
eleven states that has made simple drug possession a felony and one of 21
that treats third-time drunken driving a felony, and imprisons them. people
for writing bad checks for less than $250, and one of five that imprisons
people for repeatedly driving without a valid licence.
The people pressure the legislators and the legislators pass laws.
In the last 10 yeasr Lawmakers have created more than 50 new crimes,
two-thirds of them felonies, and up go the number of prisoners. These
"criminals" are not sentenced by judges, but by the pressure groups who
influence the legislators.
Judges and prosecutors say that nonviolent offenders in Idaho
usually land in prison because they have prior records, seldom for only one
offense. But for one-time caught driving without a license, should the
offender be punished in the penitentiary?
The Department of Corrections blames this on the legislators and
the public pressure. When the Idaho Senate passed tough new drunken driving
legislation this year, the Senate gallery was packed with families of
people killed by drunken drivers. These gallery folk have influenced the
passage of four mandatory-minimum sentence laws dealing with drunken
driving, and seven mandatory-minimum sentence laws about drugs. When an
elderly adult was abandoned at a dog track in 1993, the Legislature passed
a law against abandonment of the elderly; when a man intentionally
transmitted AIDS, a law was passed against it. In the past 10 years
lawmakers have created more than 50 new crimes, 2/3 of them felonies, and
as the crimes happen over and over, the criminals get tougher
sentences--which the legislators think the public wants.
Written by Janet LeCompte