The Idaho House of Representatives on Friday approved a $150 million budget for the Department of Correction for the next fiscal year.
The spending plan, sent to the Senate on a 39-20 vote, represents 9 percent of Idaho’s general fund budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
DOC would also receive more than $20 million in federal and dedicated funds.
State prisons would see a $6 million reduction from current funding levels, community corrections a $1.3 million cut, and the Commission of Pardons and Parole a $135,000 reduction.
Nearly half of the correction budget is going to contracts with private companies that the state can’t reduce during difficult economic times. Contracts with the private Idaho Correctional Center in Boise will see a 3 percent increase.
Costs for dealing with Idaho’s at-capacity prison population by placing inmates in prisons in Texas and Oklahoma would rise $2.7 million.
Idaho currently has 7,422 inmates in state and private prisons, and officials expect that number to rise to about 7,700 by May 2011. (IdahoReporter.com)
