Audit: Idaho has broken state laws governing prisoner drug treatment
10:57 AM MST on Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Associated Press


BOISE -- The way Idaho provides treatment for prison inmates with drug problems violates state law.
A legislative audit has found that fewer Idaho inmates finish treatment than in other states.

About 85 percent of the state's prisoners and probationers say they have substance abuse problems.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-dec1405-prison_treatment.bfa02ba.html

Not only that but they will give you a parole date if you agree to participate in their F.R.I.E.N.D.S. program, but if you do not agree with their political or religous beliefs you are kicked out from the program and your parole date is taken. My fiance had contacted the ACLU when this happened to him. The ACLU wrote numerous letters to the IDOC requesting an outline of the F.R.I.E.N.D.S program to verify if they indeed were pushing political and religous beliefs within the program. It took the IDOC over six months to respond and when they did, they did not provide a copy of the program outline, instead they indicated that they were changing policy in the program to offer inmates a choice. This is great for incomming but needless to say due to their earlier policy my finance whom was put into prison due to a parole violation (signing a business lease out of state without prior permission from his PO) has now spent four years needlessly and each time he goes before the parole board they turn him down, my thought is because he pissed the system off, he has filed a law suit and so we wait. The IDOC sent him an application for commutation of sentence (he did not request this) and so if anyone has any suggestions on what type of recommendation letters should be attached please advise. God Bless You and Yours.

Welcome to PTO

I've seen a lot of those filed, but only very few are granted by the parole commission. I share some of your opinions and disagreements with the way our system works. I understand that going out of town is a violation, but dont agree that it alone justifies going back to prison. I would much rather see a violater go on a home moniter for so many months rather then back to prison. Maybe if some of these petty violaters werent being sent back then we wouldnt be filled up and wouldnt have to send guys like my husband out of state. Then again not filling up the prison would mean they dont need all this money to house inmates.

Have you wrote letters to your legislatures? IMO its people like you they need to hear from. They need to know why our prisons are full.

About pushing the religion issue my friend is in sici, he has been filling out his parole packet and yesterday met with his counselor, who told him that he would probably go to a half-way house. He has no family around here where i am and he does not want to go home to where his family is because most of them and all of his friends there are his "druggie" friends he does not want back in that. But anyway they told him that he would have to most likely wait another 1-2 years then go to a work facility for a year, because he is not a Christian and they are mostly all christian based. Does anyone know more about any of this?