Fights, fire, chaos, a busted-down wall: Inside the Idaho prison disturbance in April
Documents and firsthand accounts shed new light on a chaotic incident earlier this year at an Idaho prison south of Boise that required hospitalizations and caused thousands of dollars in damage — including a wall being breached by inmates.
The April 10 incident — Idaho Department of Correction officials have taken care not to call it a riot — also highlighted potential security risks. At least one fire was started and the housing tier filled with smoke, and inmates were able to bust through a wall to gain access to a recreation yard within the prison’s security fence.
Four residents of the Idaho State Correctional Center were hospitalized in Boise after fights broke out in Tier 1 of the prison’s H-Block, according to a news release after the unrest. A fifth ISCC resident was evaluated in a hospital two days later for an injury that was apparently sustained that evening, the release said.
Bills for the damage exceeded $20,000, according to an IDOC spokesperson.
ISCC is one of several prisons located south of Boise, and it houses more than 2,100 men at various security levels. The prison’s H-Block is a separate building from all other housing blocks in the main part of the prison, connected only by an outdoor walkway. Once inside, H-Block is divided into three tiers.
Tier 1 is a large room with a dorm-style layout, meaning there are no cells, but rather rows of bunk beds and rows of tables. To the west of the Tier 1 section lies the H-Block recreation yard.
Records obtained by the Idaho Statesman show that the incident started at around 4:30 p.m., with fights preceding the starting of a fire, which prompted the IDOC’s version of a SWAT team to be called to the prison. That team, known as the Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT), cleared dozens of people from the H-Block recreation yard and restrained some.
By the time officers searched Tier 1, all inmates were already in the recreation yard. Emails obtained by the Statesman via a public records request also indicate that some of the inmates consumed prison-made alcohol that day.
In emails and phone interviews, Idaho prison officials declined to answer specific questions regarding the situation, as the matter remains under investigation.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has completed its inquiry, spokesperson Patrick Orr wrote in an email. Reports were then transferred to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.
As of Friday, the prosecutor’s office was still reviewing reports and screening the incident for possible charges, according to a spokesperson. No charges have been filed.
Whether the incident falls within Idaho’s riot statute will be determined by the Ada County prosecutor, IDOC spokesperson Jeff Ray said in an email.
According to state law, a riot is defined as “any action, use of force or violence, or threat thereof, disturbing the public peace, or any threat to use such force or violence, if accompanied by immediate power of execution, by two or more persons acting together, and without authority of law,” which results in physical injury to a person, damage to property or a disturbance to public peace. There are misdemeanor and felony charges available.
Control log shows fights, fire and a hole in a wall
April 10 started like any other day at ISCC, according to one correctional officer who was working at the prison that day.
The officer said he first heard a call for a noncompliant offender, which is not atypical in prisons. But the situation didn’t calm down.
“I could hear it escalating,” the guard said during an interview with the Statesman. “I could tell … this is not good.” Shortly after, a call was made for any available staff to respond to H-Block.
Three IDOC correctional officers spoke with the Idaho Statesman on the condition of anonymity, fearing potential retribution. Two are still employed at ISCC and a third quit days after the April 10 incident. The Statesman verified the employment status of all three with IDOC and verified that they were working in the prison on April 10.
Tier 1 held minimum- and medium-custody inmates before and after the coronavirus spread into Idaho prisons, according to Ray. However, officers who spoke to the Statesman said the men in Tier 1 on April 10 were members of various gangs who, under normal circumstances, would be held in cells for security reasons.
Because of COVID-19 in prisons, housing units with cells were being used to isolate medically vulnerable residents.
“We know the virus spreads faster in dormitory settings than it does in housing units comprised of cells, so we moved residents whom medical staff had deemed especially vulnerable to the disease into cells for their protection,” Ray said in an email.
This also meant housing members of different gangs in a dorm-style housing tier, which created an additional security risk, according to the correctional officers.
The officer assigned to H-Block that day who quit days after the incident told the Statesman that he entered Tier 1 with another officer after a fight was reported. After finding someone they suspected was in a fight, he and another officer called for backup. Only one additional officer responded, which he said was the result of short staffing that has plagued Idaho prisons for months.
“My heart dropped,” he said during an interview with the Statesman. “I had one person respond in a unit with 304 inmates and 96 in just this one tier. I had one person respond.”
An ISCC central control log from that day — which the Statesman obtained via a records request — shows how some events transpired:
- 4:21 p.m.: Videos of the incident provided to the Statesman show several correctional officers escorting an inmate off the tier, with numerous other inmates starting to crowd the tier door. Past that lies a hallway and the H-Block control room area.
- 4:36 p.m.: Inmates began throwing chairs and other items at windows, and 2 minutes later, fights again broke out in Tier 1, according to the control log.
- 4:38 to 5:14 p.m.: Fights started in the back of the tier and inmates threw objects at the tier door.
- 5:18 p.m.: Staff reported that they could smell smoke. One minute later, the control log shows at least one fire was visible.
- 5:23 p.m.: Inmates were “attempting to breach outer fire door.” No officers were inside Tier 1 at the time.
According to all three officers, inmates broke down a Tier 1 wall — which was not reinforced with concrete or metal — into an external bathroom. That bathroom is for use while inmates are in the adjacent recreation yard. After the wall was broken down, inmates went into the bathroom and left through the bathroom door, gaining access to the yard, they said.
Hours later, at 8:58 p.m., a search team reported “there is a large hole in the wall on Tier 1 H-Block to the exterior wall,” according to the control log.
- 5:26 p.m.: Another video reviewed by the Statesman shows an inmate pushed some sort of item — something that appears to be a garbage can with flames inside — toward the tier door. He and others began throwing what appears to be clothing at the door. Minutes later, smoke can be seen throughout the tier.
- 5:34 p.m.: An outside door was breached, according to the control log. It was not clear from the log whether these lines are in reference to the wall being broken down, or another door that might have been breached during the incident.
- 5:37 p.m.: In another provided video, one man is seen carrying another man toward the main tier door, presumably in the hopes of getting the man out of the smoke. A guard said the tier door remained closed for the duration of the incident, opening only when the tier was searched and cleared at 8:40 p.m. The control log says repeatedly that inmates were in the H-Block recreation yard.
- 6:02 p.m.: CERT began preparing to clear the outside rec yard, as well as to tend to a potentially injured inmate.
- 6:47 p.m.: An announcement was made for everyone to evacuate Tier 1. It’s unclear how many people were still in the tier and how they got out.
- 7 p.m.: More than 40 people had been evacuated from the yard by CERT, according to the control log. This left roughly 54 inmates in the tier or in the yard.
- 7:05 p.m.: Prison officials started requesting that those in the yard move to a back gate and comply.
- 7:08 p.m.: A lieutenant requested medical attention for an inmate who was carried off the tier.
- 7:26 p.m.: The log says two correctional officers were getting ready to take an inmate to a Boise hospital.
The control log goes on to show that CERT began removing inmates from the yard, with noncompliant prisoners being taken to holding cells and those who were injured being sent to medical units. At least one inmate was sent to a medical unit in need of stitches, according to the control log.
- 8:32 p.m.: CERT reported that the H-Block rec yard was cleared and staff requested overhead sprinklers be shut off. It was not clear from the control log when the sprinklers were turned on.
- 8:40 p.m.: Correctional officers opened the tier door to search the tier, which was reported as clear 2 minutes later. A photo provided to the Statesman depicts Tier 1 at 8:41 p.m., with debris scattered throughout the room and correctional officers inside.
- 9:21 p.m.: All of H-Block was cleared.
- 9:44 p.m.: The H-Block rec yard was clear. The control log shows that H-Block’s other units, Tier 2 and Tier 3, were reopened at 10:46 and 10:58 p.m., respectively. Both tiers had been evacuated after the incident began in Tier 1.
- 9:27 p.m. The control log says that that ISCC’s A-Block “will be receiving intoxicated residents for placement.”
- 9:50 p.m.: The control log mentions one inmate by name who was “refusing to breathalyze,” and assistance was needed.
In addition to the central control log, the Statesman also obtained — via records request — emails sent by IDOC administrators during and after the ISCC incident. At 10:22 a.m. on April 11, IDOC Division of Prisons Chief Chad Page sent an email to prison staff around the state.
“The investigation into the disturbance is ongoing,” Page wrote, ”but it appears that the individuals involved had consumed prison-made alcohol and a fight had taken place just prior to the disturbance.”
In an email, Ray told the Statesman that security staff members at ISCC have seized homemade alcohol roughly six times a month since the start of 2021.
According to Ray, the cost of damages to the tier was $22,567, with Idaho’s Risk Management Program paying all but $2,000 of that. Ray said in an email that Tier 1 was reopened around June 2, noting that difficulty in finding and purchasing ceiling tiles caused a delay.
ISCC assaults, incidents since April 10
In the months following the H-Block incident, ISCC has been the site of other security incidents.
On Aug. 9, a woman serving as a paralegal was assaulted by an inmate, resulting in injuries to her face and head that required hospitalization, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting.
A day after the paralegal was assaulted, 22 inmates were involved in a fight after a staff member accidentally opened multiple doors in a housing unit. Ray told the Statesman in an email that “security staff responded immediately” and “no one was seriously hurt.”
The incidents prompted Idaho Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, to issue a statement and call for “immediate action” by prison and state officials.
“If the Corrections Department can’t keep its employees safe at the prison, the problem is serious,” Gannon said in the statement.
In his letter, Gannon, who has been a member of the Idaho House since 2012, also made reference to the enormous issues that arose at ISCC, then called the Idaho Correctional Center (ICC), in previous years.
A 2013 investigation from The Associated Press revealed that the Corrections Corporation of America, now known as CoreCivic, gave state officials falsified documents to cover up severe understaffing at the prison. ICC was also known by inmates at that time as “Gladiator School” due to the violent nature inside the prison. Amid an FBI investigation, the state ultimately ended its contract with CCA and IDOC assumed control of the prison.
In recent months, ISCC has also seen two separate instances of inmates dying by apparent suicide. A 38-year-old man was found unconscious and pronounced dead on Sept. 16. A 28-year-old man was found unconscious in his cell on Oct. 2, and he was pronounced dead just after midnight on Oct. 3.
Vacant positions at ISCC, and IDOC staffing issues
In September, ISCC was down nearly twice the number of correctional officers that it was during the April 10 incident, and staffing numbers have improved only slightly, according to numbers provided by IDOC.
On April 19 — the day closest to the April 10 incident date with a staff vacancy count — ISCC had 38 correctional staff positions open, Ray told the Statesman in an email.
As of Sept. 30, the prison was down 75 correctional officers, according to Ray. As of early November, the number was 73, with just 208 of 281 security positions at the prison filled, according to Ray.
One guard who spoke to the Statesman and still works at ISCC said that some co-workers quit in the days after the April 10 incident and added that cutting corners on security is an ongoing issue. He also said that lately, officers at ISCC have been quitting because of mandatory overtime demands.
“They just get sick of it,” the guard said.
The guard who quit days after the incident shared his resignation letter with the Statesman. He wrote that excessive overtime and the low staffing numbers bordered on negligence on the part of IDOC.
“In my opinion, this facility is run in the manner of filling a need (rather) than considering the welfare of your employees,” he wrote. “The main reason for this resignation is because my safety is routinely compromised and not a priority.”
The staffing issues at IDOC prisons are not new, as the department has aimed to address staffing shortages in recent months. Effective Sept. 5, IDOC increased starting pay for officers to $19 an hour, a bump from the previous minimum rate of $16.75 an hour.
Correctional officers work 12- to 16-hour shifts, IDOC Director Josh Tewalt said while outlining the department’s staffing situation during a Sept. 17 hearing for the Idaho Legislature’s Criminal Justice Reinvestment Oversight Committee. He described to committee members how short staffing has an effect.
“When we’re running 12-hour shifts and nobody shows up to relieve you, that means you’re going to be pulling a 16-hour shift until we can find somebody to come in and take your place,” Tewalt said during the hearing.
As of Sept. 13, there were 215 vacancies for correctional officers in IDOC facilities statewide, Tewalt added, meaning around 79% of officer positions were filled.
In an interview with the Statesman, Tewalt said being short-staffed can bring a restriction in movement inside prisons, meaning some activities are canceled or they are done in tiers.
“In some cases, programming, education, vocational opportunities, those other things that we believe are really important to our daily activities, can’t operate in the same way that they would if we were fully staffed,” Tewalt said.
During the Sept. 17 committee hearing, Tewalt said that no programs are entirely offline, but some are operating at reduced capacity.
Tewalt told the Statesman that in a situation such as what occurred on April 10, sometimes nonsecurity staff step up and fill in when needed. While that wouldn’t mean a nonsecurity staff member would work a security post, doing jobs such as managing entry points to prisons can help free up correctional officers. However, that also means that nonsecurity staff are not doing their regular jobs.
“Not only does it increase stress for the people who work at our facilities, but it also increases stress for the people who live there,” Tewalt said. “And that means you may not be getting the same opportunities that you’re afforded when we’re fully staffed.”
One guard said he doesn’t blame administrators for the short staffing.
His frustration, he said, lies with the administration’s lack of transparency after the incident, which he contends was a riot, regardless of Idaho’s legal definition. Specifically, the guard pointed to a news release published on April 12, in which IDOC officials said the initial fire “prompted staff to evacuate the tier,” even though inmates left Tier 1 on their own through the busted wall.
As a sworn corrections officer, the guard said he could be fired from his job if he’s caught lying on a report, and he believes prison officials should be held to the same standard.
“The people in Idaho have to be able to trust what the department is saying,” he said. “My thing is don’t give a version of the events, give the version of events. … What do you have to lose?”
When asked to respond to that sentiment, Ray said in an email, “Security staff assured that all the residents of Tier 1 were off the tier and evacuated the two adjacent 96-bed tiers.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
