Prisoner Reentry in Idaho

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Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

Executive Summary

This report describes the process of prisoner reentry in Idaho by examining the trends in incarceration and prisoner releases in the state, the characteristics of the state's released prisoners, and the geographic distribution of released prisoners. This report does not attempt to evaluate a specific reentry program or empirically assess Idaho's reentry policies and practices. Rather, the report consolidates existing data on incarceration and release trends and presents a new analysis of data on Idaho prisoners released in 2003. The data used in this report were derived from several sources, including the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC), Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections (IDJC), the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Highlights from the report are presented below.

Incarceration Trends. Over the past seven years, Idaho's incarcerated population has grown at a faster rate than state prison populations nationwide. The Idaho prison population increased 60 percent from 1996 to 2003, compared with a 23 percent increase nationally during this same time period. The per capita rate of imprisonment in Idaho rose from 319 to 430 per 100,000 residents in the state between 1996 and 2000, an increase of 35 percent. Idaho's release patterns reflect these incarceration trends: 3,194 prisoners were released from Idaho prisons in fiscal year 2003, 78 percent higher than the number released in fiscal year 1996 (N = 1,790). Between fiscal years 2002 and 2003, the growth of Idaho's prison population slowed, increasing by less than 1 percent. The growth of the state's admission and release populations, however, climbed during this one-year time period by nearly 5 and 18 percent, respectively.

Characteristics of Prisoners Released in 2003. The majority of released prisoners were male (83 percent) and white (79 percent). The average age at release was 33 years. One-third (33 percent) had been serving time for drug offenses, 21 percent for violent offenses, and the remaining 46 percent for nonviolent (and nondrug) offenses. The average time served was 1.7 years; "termers" served an average of 2.7 years, "riders" served approximately six months, and parole violators released after awaiting a hearing with the Parole Commission served less than four months. Educational attainment was also quite low, with nearly half of the prisoners released in 2003 lacking a high school diploma or GED at the time of incarceration. Eleven percent of all releasees participated in the IDOC's relapse prevention program during their most recent period of incarceration. Approximately 13 percent of the release population received psychotropic medication at some point during their most recent incarceration period.

Characteristics of Juveniles Released in 2002. In the 2002 calendar year, the IDJC released 373 juveniles into the community. The majority were male (85 percent) and white (95 percent). Most of the juveniles released in 2002 (84 percent) were between the ages of 15 and 18 years. The largest percentage of juveniles released from the IDJC in 2002 had been serving time for nonviolent (and nondrug) offenses (62 percent). On average, juveniles were in custody for 1.4 years. Twelve percent of juveniles released in 2002 had been in an Idaho juvenile facility at least once before.

Release and Supervision Policies and Practices. In fiscal year 2003, the majority (80 percent) of all exiting prisoners were released discretionarily to a period of community supervision. From 1996 to 2003, the proportion of prisoners released to supervision in Idaho remained relatively stable at around 80 percent, while the number of prisoners released to supervision increased by 69 percent from 1,505 in fiscal year 1996 to 2,545 in fiscal year 2003.

Geographic Distribution of Released Prisoners. Of the prisoners released to supervision in Idaho in 2003, more than one-fourth (27 percent) returned to Ada County, followed by Canyon County (13 percent). Five of Idaho's 44 counties accounted for 73 percent of returning prisoners. Among these five counties, Ada County had the greatest number of returning prisoners, but the lowest rate of returning prisoners, at 2 per every 1,000 residents. Among all counties in Idaho, Twin Falls and Washington Counties had the highest rates of returning prisoners (3.9 per 1,000 residents), followed by Cassia County (3.6 per 1,000 residents). As with the adult release population, the greatest share of released juveniles (29 percent) returned to Ada County.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

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