Idaho DOC: Prison population up, resources down

BOISE — Idaho Department of Correction Director Bree Derrick came before the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Monday to discuss the outlook for the department tasked with managing the state prison and probation facilities. 

Derrick made clear Monday the Idaho Department of Correction was faced with slowed revenue growth and a steadily rising prison population that has put a strain on existing infrastructure and pushed the department to look outside state facilities to house its inmates.

Noah Peterson, a budget analyst with the Legislative Services Office, provided an overview of the department’s standing and said one of the key changes in recent years has been the department’s unobligated cash balances, which have declined significantly in recent fiscal years from $20.8 million in fiscal year 2023, dipping most recently to a low of $3.6 million in fiscal year 2025. 

Peterson said much of this decline has been a result of inmate labor contracts being lost, with 35% of the cash balance’s revenues stemming from wages paid on labor contracts. These programs, forged with employers in Idaho, allow inmates to engage in a variety of work programs outside the prison and under the supervision of IDOC staff.

This diminished buffer has meant department bills that would have been paid from these funds were now coming from the general fund appropriation for the department, a reality that led Gov. Brad Little to hold the department harmless from 3% agency holdbacks that were ordered in the fall of last year.

If the department were to enact these cuts as recommended, Peterson said, IDOC would have needed to furlough all 2,000 of their staff for a minimum of five days.

Part of the issue with responding to holdbacks has been the growing cost of housing each inmate. For an out-of-state contract with an Arizona correctional facility, the cost of housing each inmate there has risen to about $85 per inmate per day, Derrick said.

Derrick said the inflation in costs for toilet paper and other basic supplies has also been “staggering” in recent years, a trend that has come alongside the department housing more inmates than it has in its history. 

Sen. Phil Hart, R-Kellogg, questioned what avenues the department had to predict the impact of new legislation implementing new mandatory minimum prison sentences in the state or adding enhancements onto crime, both of which contribute to increasing the amount of time individuals spend in state prisons. 

Among the recent changes to mandatory minimums in the state came in 2024 when Little signed into law House Bill 406 that implemented minimum sentences for fentanyl possession with penalties escalating based upon the amount seized from fines to minimum sentences of five years and 10 years.

Derrick said modeling is available to the department to map out the impact of this legislation and others, though on a broader level, the state continues to have a fairly high incarceration rate both relative to its western neighbors and the nation at large.

At present, just under 20% of IDOC’s prison population is under a minimum sentence, she said.

A prior report to Idaho State Police similarly noted, among western states, Idaho has consistently ranked second only to Arizona in prison population per capita with previous incarceration rates of around 500 state prisoners per 100,000 residents. The most recent incarcerated population report from IDOC puts the number of Idaho state prisoners at 9,938, putting the current per capita rate just below 500.

As for the reason behind the continued growth in Idaho’s prison population, Derrick said what is known is the number of individuals admitted to IDOC facilities has grown while the number of individuals leaving IDOC facilities has remained stable, findings that were reached in IDOC’s strategic plan for the coming fiscal years. What hasn’t been found is any indication in length of stay shifting dramatically one way or the other, she said.