Latest news with #IdahoDepartmentofCorrection
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Inhumane conditions' at Idaho maximum security prison prompt planned hunger strike
Dozens of men incarcerated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution have been refusing to eat to protest 'inhumane conditions' at the prison, according to a news release from Return Strong, a Nevada-based advocacy organization for incarcerated people. The Idaho Department of Correction confirmed that nearly 90 men refused to take their breakfast Friday morning as part of 'what appears to be a peaceful, planned demonstration,' spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic told the Idaho Statesman. She said the prisoners have been asking for visitation rights and better programming at the institution. Friday's protest marks the second time men incarcerated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution organized a mass hunger strike to demand better treatment and services within the last year and a half, though IDOC leadership in the past has taken issue with use of the term. According to the agency's policy definitions, the demonstration is only a considered a 'hunger strike' when the men have refused to eat or drink for at least three days. In May 2024, roughly 90 men primarily housed at the maximum prison refused their meals for six days. Several of them told the Statesman they were protesting the substandard living conditions, including long bouts of isolation and 'cages' IDOC used for recreation time, covered in human feces. Prisoners also brought up concerns over access to certain religious practices, rehabilitative programming and a lack of visitation options. Return Strong Executive Director Jodi Hocking on Friday again pointed to 'systemic medical neglect and indefinite isolation without rehabilitation' in its news release, and said the organization is urging the state prison system's leadership to take 'immediate steps to address these dangerous and degrading conditions.' Return Strong said the prison offered months of delay for one individual with a broken wrist and finger, limited mental health care, mold covering the shower walls, restricted visitation, took away access to fruit and stuck prisoners with years of solitary confinement. 'When incarcerated people feel they have no voice and no path to dignity, they turn to peaceful protest,' Hocking said in the news release. 'These men are standing up not just for themselves, but for the humanity of all people in prison.' Kuzeta-Cerimagic said that about six months ago, the prison implemented a reward system for people in close custody, a high-security custody level often used for maximum security prisoners. Individuals who meet certain criteria, like being at least six months free of disciplinary offense reports and agreeing to live in a mixed unit not separated by gang affiliation, receive double dayroom time, one physical visit a week and additional opportunities for programming and jobs, she said. Fruit remains restricted because it's used in homemade alcohol, and it has been substituted with fresh vegetables, Kuzeta-Cerimagic said. She denied allegations of black or green mold, adding that some showers within the prison are expected to be repaired or refinished. 'We hope to resolve the situation without escalation,' Kuzeta-Cerimagic said. Dewey Lewis, who's 53 and has been incarcerated since the '90s, said many of the concerns he and others raised from Idaho's maximum security prison last year still exist. He reiterated allegations that recreational areas were littered with human urine and feces, since they don't have access to a bathroom for hours. It's the second time he's recently participated in a planned hunger strike at the prison. He said he's taking part in the protest again with the hope of raising awareness of the prison's conditions and to push for change.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho starts remodel for the firing squad chamber. Here's what it'll cost
In our Reality Check stories, Idaho Statesman journalists seek to hold the powerful accountable and find answers to critical questions in our community. Read more. Story idea? Tips@ Idaho will spend more than $900,000 to renovate its execution chamber to accommodate a firing squad as its lead method, state prison officials told the Idaho Statesman. The Idaho Department of Correction announced in late May that it was set to begin construction but did not detail the cost. The decision to move forward with the remodel project is tied to meeting a July 2026 deadline included in a bill the Legislature passed in March to prioritize the execution method, which Gov. Brad Little signed into law. The legislation followed a prior law Little approved in 2023 that made the firing squad a backup method to lethal injection, and set aside $750,000 for construction. No new funds were included when lawmakers made the firing squad the primary method to carry out the death penalty once IDOC finishes the transition with the retrofit at the maximum security prison south of Boise. Prison officials said they plan to make up the cost difference with other budget savings. The project's expected price tag of $911,000 is about $42,000 less than a prior estimate issued last year. The previous cost would have expedited construction, officials said, which would have taken three to four months. IDOC now plans for the project overseen by the Idaho Division of Public Works to take between six and nine months. The state prison system paused all possible executions until early 2026, when the project is complete, because construction effectively takes the execution chamber offline, including for lethal injections. IDOC already was under a federal injunction against carrying out the death penalty until they make changes to a room where prison officials prepare and administer lethal injection drugs. Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic, IDOC's spokesperson, told the Statesman that she doesn't know why officials chose to approve the longer construction timeline. A judge in April ruled in favor of the injunction after three news outlets, including the Statesman, sued IDOC to improve witnesses' access to executions on First Amendment grounds. The Attorney General's Office, which represents IDOC in the matter, appealed the judge's decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. When it takes effect next year, Idaho's new law will make it the only U.S. state with a firing squad as its main execution method. Four other states — Utah, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Mississippi — also have the controversial method on the books, but none as its primary. South Carolina upgraded its execution chamber in 2022 to add a firing squad at a cost of $54,000, The Associated Press reported. The state executed two prisoners by firing squad this year, the first time the method was used in the U.S. in nearly 15 years. By comparison, Idaho's estimated price tag drew criticism from lawmakers who opposed the new law. 'The expense to this is getting to be considerable,' Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, said during debate of the bill. 'You can build a gorgeous, gorgeous mansion for $1 million, and I don't know why a firing squad facility is costing so much.' The sponsors of Idaho bill's pursued the change after the state failed to put a prisoner to death for the first time in state history. Prison officials attempted to execute Thomas Creech — the state's longest-serving death row prisoner — in February 2024, but called off his lethal injection when they were unable to find a vein suitable for an IV. Creech, now 74, was returned to death row and has remained in legal limbo since. Eight other people convicted of murder, including one woman, make up the rest of those prisoners in Idaho who have been sentenced to death.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
IDOC pauses all executions to build firing squad chamber
The execution chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. (Courtesy of IDOC) This story originally published May 27 on Idaho Reports. The Idaho Department of Correction has put a pause on all state executions as of May 23 to complete renovations of the death row facility at the Idaho State Maximum Security Institution. The unit, known as F-Block, houses the existing facility for lethal injection executions. The pause is needed to allow renovation of the facility to make the firing squad the primary form of execution by July 1, 2026, according to an IDOC news release. Idaho will be only state with firing squad as main execution method, after governor signs bill The state had the firing squad as a secondary method until the Legislature passed House Bill 37 this year. Under the new law, Idaho would be the only state in the nation to use the firing squad as its primary method of execution. 'The current estimated time frame to complete this retrofit is approximately 6 to 9 months,' according to the news release. 'Following completion of the remodel, the execution team will need time to conduct training to be ready to carry out an execution by firing squad beginning July 2026. The Department is confident it will meet the required timelines and will do so on budget.' IDOC already would have had to pause lethal injection executions after U.S. District Judge Debora Grasham ordered the department in April to provide audio and visual access for media witnesses during any executions. That decision comes as a First Amendment lawsuit from a coalition of news organizations moves forward in court, according to the AP. The Associated Press, The Idaho Statesman and East Idaho News sued the state's prison director in December, arguing that key steps of the lethal injection process were being unconstitutionally hidden from public view. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Idaho must allow execution witnesses to watch as lethal drugs are prepared and given, judge rules
Idaho prison officials must let media witnesses at executions watch as lethal injection drugs are prepared and administered to a condemned person, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Debora K. Grasham ordered the Idaho Department of Correction to provide the audio and visual access for any executions that occur while a First Amendment lawsuit from a coalition of news organizations moves forward in court. The Associated Press, The Idaho Statesman and East Idaho News sued the state's prison director in December, arguing that key steps of the lethal injection process were being unconstitutionally hidden from public view. "While it is true that this case concerns Idaho's lethal injection execution procedures, it equally concerns the public's First Amendment right of access to the State's administration of the most severe penalty enforced by our State," Grasham wrote. Grasham made clear that her ruling did not make a policy judgment about the death penalty itself, but instead "attempts to safeguard the constitutional right belonging to the public under the First Amendment of access to executions conducted by the state, so that such policy decisions can be well-informed." Executions — including the means and methods used to carry them out — have historically been open to the public in the United States, Grasham wrote. Today, media witnesses act as surrogates for the public at large by viewing and then reporting on the execution process. Idaho's execution protocols currently allow media witnesses to watch as a condemned person is brought into the execution chamber, placed on a gurney, and has the IV inserted and attached to medical tubing that leads into another room. Witnesses can also watch as the condemned person dies. But the actual preparation and administration of the deadly chemicals is done in a separate part of the facility, and that process has always been hidden from view. During a hearing earlier this month, Tanner Smith, the attorney representing prison officials, said the public can rely on prison officials to accurately tell them whether the preparation and administration of the drugs was successful. He also said that keeping the "medication room" hidden from public view helps protect the identities of the volunteers who carry out that work. But Grasham said the state failed to show why those volunteers couldn't just protect their identities by using the same face coverings, gloves and hats that are used by the execution team members who already work in view of media witnesses. Prison officials failed to show the secrecy was necessary for legitimate penological interests, rather than "exaggerated response," she wrote. Grasham also disagreed with prison officials' claims that the "preparation and administration of the lethal injection drugs, the method which brings about an execution, is a 'minute detail' of the execution process." "Indeed, the Court struggles to think of a more vital step of the execution process than the actions taken by the medical team while in the Medical Team Room, because without such actions, the execution would not occur," Grasham wrote. Grasham also wrote that allowing witnesses to access the medical team preparations and administrations of the drugs "will not extend the amount of time witnesses spend in the witness room or require any change in procedure by the medical team members." An Associated Press reporter also pointed out that when the state conducted executions by hanging, the entire process was visible to witnesses, according to the judge's decision. Idaho's last execution by hanging was conducted in 1957. Twenty-seven states authorize the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, though some have paused executions or do not have anyone on death row. The states also vary widely on how many media witnesses they allow at executions, as well as how much of the process witnesses are allowed to see. This is not the first time The Associated Press and other news organizations have sued Idaho officials in an attempt to increase execution access. In 2012, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered prison officials to allow the news organizations to view the first part of lethal injection executions, including when a condemned person is brought into the execution chamber, secured to the execution gurney and the IV is inserted. Idaho has attempted four lethal injection executions since the 1970s. Three of them were completed, but the most recent attempt, involving Thomas Eugene Creech, was aborted last year after execution team members were unable to successfully establish an IV line after eight attempts in Creech's arms and legs. Lawmakers passed a new law this year that will make firing squads the state's primary method of execution, starting next year. Firing squad executions are rare but not unheard of, with only a handful being carried out in the U.S. in the last half-century. Two of them took place in South Carolina this year, marking the first U.S. firing squad executions in 15 years.
Washington Post
29-04-2025
- Washington Post
Federal judge says Idaho must let execution witnesses watch as lethal drugs are prepped and pushed
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho prison officials must allow media witnesses at executions to watch as lethal injection drugs are prepared and administered to a condemned person, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Debora K. Grasham ordered the Idaho Department of Correction to provide the audio and visual access for any executions that occur while a First Amendment lawsuit from a coalition of news organizations moves forward in court. The state doesn't have any executions scheduled, Grasham noted, so prison officials have time to install a closed-circuit audio and visual feed before they are again tasked with putting someone to death.
