250 Prisoners to be Moved from Idaho to Karnes County Correctional Center in Karnes City, Texas
The size of the Idaho prison population has grown to the point that they have an ongoing bed shortage in the state’s jails and prisons. Soon, up to 250 male prisoners will be moved from Idaho to the Karnes County Correctional Center in Karnes City, Texas. This is a temporary arrangement, as the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDC) continues the search for a prison-bed provider to establish a long-term agreement with. The Karnes County Correctional Center is owned by GEO Group, which is a private company that contracts with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It has a 550-bed capacity. The facility’s operation will be closely monitored onsite and in person by the Idaho Department of Correction’s Contract Oversight Unit, for the purpose of ensuring that standards for contract-bed providers set by the department are met.
Director of the Idaho Department of Correction, Henry Atencio, said it is not ideal to send prisoners out of state. It creates difficulties for the prisoners’ families and for IDC staff.
There was an occasion in 2009 when Idaho prisoners were at another Geo Group-run private prison facility in Texas, and they had to be moved after an Idaho prisoner committed suicide and a related investigation found that the facility was poorly operated and prisoners lived in squalid conditions.
The Karnes County Correctional Center is accredited by both the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the American Correctional Association. The facility recently passed inspections by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Texas Department of Health Services. The Idaho prisoners will remain there until a long-term contract for the housing of 1,000 prisoners at an out-of-state facility is executed by the IDC and the beds at that facility become available. The department is attempting to make a contract for up to 1,000 beds for up to six years. The contract is expected to be finalized by March 17, 2018.
All of the prisoners selected for incarceration in Texas are classified as medium custody. They were held, until recently, at four different facilities: Idaho State Correctional Center, South Idaho Correctional Institution, Idaho Maximum Security Institution, and Idaho State Correctional Institution.
Part of the reason there is room for temporary housing of Idaho prisoners at the Karnes City facility could be that arrests for illegal U.S. border crossings are currently at a 46-year low.
The date and time of the transfer of prisoners from Idaho to Texas will not be publically announced. All prisoners will have the opportunity to call their families immediately upon arrival at the Karnes County Correctional Center.
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