GOVERNOR RISCH MAKES A PROGRESS REPORT
AT DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION

 Employee morale, treatment with education, and plans for keeping inmates
in Idaho will be the focus of the report.

BOISE – Governor Jim Risch today highlighted accomplishments made to date by the Idaho Department of Correction on the three goals he established when he appointed Vaughn Killeen as the new director of the department.  In the July 14 news conference Risch had said he wanted a viable plan to stop moving inmates out of state, ensure adequate rehabilitation programs for prisoners to meet their parole dates, and improve employee morale.

“I am very pleased to report that significant strides have been made in all three areas that I asked the department to focus on.   We are keeping Idaho prisoners in Idaho, we have brought a new focus to education and treatment and raised the morale of our hard working employees,” said Risch “I commend Director Killeen and all the employees in the department for their efforts and these accomplishments.”

A new sprung structure at the medium security facility opened September 11 and is housing 100 inmates.  The facility cost $1.47 million to build compared to a conventional prison construction cost of $2.2 million.  The sprung structure takes less time to build than conventional facilities and is more energy efficient. The department has also identified capacity for 292 more beds. An additional 50 beds have been identified in county jails that could be available in April 2007.

At the direction of Governor Risch and Director Killeen, rehabilitation programs have been thoroughly reviewed by the new Innovative Workgroup on Offender Management (IWOM). IWOM is the first of its kind, charged with building a collaborative approach to rehabilitation.

For morale issues the department Office of Mission, Vision and Values was created to continually examine the health of the organization. The Human Resource Service office was moved under the Director’s office to provide a higher level of authority and allow the Director to be involved in critical decisions on a timely basis.  A 1-800 number is being established to allow

employees to anonymously report concerns.  A series of development courses to train and develop future supervisors and managers is being instituted.

Last year, turnover in correctional officer ranks was 34%.  Since July 1 the turnover rate is 17%. 

“There is a renewed enthusiasm in corrections, we have an optimistic path forward,” Killeen said. “These efforts have brought us a long way, and we are excited to move forward to do what is best for our employees, our inmates and our communities.”

Killeen noted the department was enhancing its fiscal responsibility with consolidation of all financial personnel under the Fiscal Group.  The revamp included implementation of a centralized contract review and approval process and implementation of centralized purchasing for the agency.

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