The Idaho Department of Correction’s annual report card is in and it shows the department with nearly perfect scores.
Under Idaho law, all state agencies must submit a performance management report to the Legislature every year as part of their annual budget requests. IDOC’s Fiscal Year 2009 report shows the department exceeded expectations in five of the six categories in which it is measured and in the sixth category the department came very close to meeting its benchmark.
The report says difficult economic conditions were actually a factor in helping the department succeed in two categories – retaining correctional officers and non-uniformed staff. But the report says the department, “remains committed to training, staff development and creating a workforce development plan to encourage staff to make corrections a long-term career even when economic conditions improve.”
The report also shows that the number of program, education and vocational educational completions increased by 1.4% during FY 09. But the number of inmates receiving General Education Diplomas and High School Equivalent
Certificates were down slightly in the fiscal year, with lower numbers being attributed to a decline in the number of offenders completing riders.
Perhaps the best-known figure from FY 09 was the unprecedented drop in the size of Idaho’s prison population. Fifty-five fewer inmates were incarcerated at the end of fiscal year 2008 than at the end of the current fiscal year that ended June 30th. The decline has played a big role in helping the department weather the current economic storm, even though the inmate population has increased at a slow rate this year as a result of an uptick in some criminal behavior.
The department’s goal, called “Controlled Growth,” is to limit the growth in the size of the state’s incarcerated offender population to the same growth rate as Idaho’s overall population.
