Expansive manicured lawns, marigold-lined walkways, and a fragrant rose garden, the prison complex resembled a tidy college campus. Facility-wide movements were held at the top of every hour, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., where inmates had the choice to leave their housing units and attend education classes, chapel services, or Recreation to get in a workout, jog the track, or just relax and catch an intramural softball game. Similar to college students moving to and fro from classes, the inmates here bustled between activities all throughout the day, and violence was low. There was purpose. Morale was high, and a measure of courtesy was shared among inmates and guards. Surely a medium-security campus envied for five states in any direction. If there ever was a “model” prison in this country, it was the Idaho State Correctional Institution, also known as the “Yard,” Idaho’s oldest operating prison facility.
That’s prior to June 2020. Skip to present day, post-COVID, the lawns are still cut and flowers grow sporadically here and there, but on closer inspection the plant placement is random and the grass is patchy and holed, networked by furrows from rodents that go unchecked. The ballfields are worse, Swiss-cheesed and choked by weeds. The once-smooth walking tracks are pitted, uneven, and encroach by weeds as well. Inside Recreation, the building fares no better: derelict equipment and condemned bleachers, grime in every corner and water stains from neglected leaks, ceiling tiles droop hazardously, and dingy worn-through wall paint attests the general policy of neglect.
Once a flag ship for Idaho corrections, the Yard is now anemic. It started with the COVID-19 prison lockdowns of 2020. And though the COVID pandemic has passed, a disease remains. The facts relay, whole-scale reduction in ISCI programs caused the decay . . .
RECREATION REDUCED
Idaho Department of Corrections’ Policy 601 states: “As much as possible, every institution and facility shall establish recreational programs, including leisure time activity, compatible with the varying interests, activities, and physical needs of inmates.” However, contrary to IDOC policy, recreation services were drastically cut from what they were under previous administrations.
To wit: Inmates at the Yard are divided into two cohorts, each attending the Recreation Department at designated times. Under previous administrations, one recreation cohort could enter Recreation from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., then again that same day from 5:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. The other cohort would have access from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The next day the schedule would flip, so a recreation cohort would have the afternoon one day, and the morning and evening the next day.
All told, an ISCI inmate would have up to 35 hours of recreation opportunity a week. Not that inmates actually spent all that time at Recreation, but the daily 4 to 6 hours of opportunity accommodated their work schedules, medical appointments, and mandatory rehabilitation programs. The schedule worked around inmates’ multiple daily obligations without compromising their time to participate in Recreation programs and exercise for the day. No matter how busy inmates were, typically they could squeeze in an hour or two of gym time.
But that’s the past. Recreation opportunity has been SIGNIFICANTLY reduced. Recreation now opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 10:30 am. It opens again at 12:30 p.m., then closes again at 1:45 p.m. It opens twenty-five minutes later at 2:10 p.m., and closes at 3:45 p.m. The last stint of Recreation is 6:10 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Factoring for two daily recreation periods, on average an inmate is allowed about 22 hours of recreation a week, or about 3 hours a day–far less than 4 to 6 hours that formerly benefitted ISCI inmates.
Moreover, in March 2025 a new restriction was imposed on access. Inmates can no longer access the Recreation Department at regular hourly yard movements, but must only come when their cohort is initially called for recreation time. This means an inmate who has a conflicting obligation will be denied an entire recreation period, diminishing further the already waning opportunities.
For example, an inmate with a medical appointment at 8:00-9:00 a.m. who, therefore, misses the 8:30 a.m. recreation movement cannot later enter Recreation at the 9:00 a.m. yard movement to catch the remaining hour and a half of recreation. Under previous administrations, such an inmate would be accommodated and allowed into Recreation, but the current administration prefers to deny them the entirety of their gym time.
NO MORE REC CALLOUTS OR PASSES
Unfortunately, the reduction in available hours means that recreation opportunity is often conflicted out for inmates who have to attend programs, work, or other appointments that overlap their scheduled recreation time.
Previous administrators mitigated this problem by allowing Recreation to run a callout. Recreation, Education, Chapel, and work details each provided lists of authorized inmates who could attend their Departments at certain times. A callout permitted inmates to attend recreation programs (like intramural sports, Physical Therapy, or Hobby Shop) even when it wasn’t necessarily their scheduled recreation time. The Yard, however, no longer solves for inmates who miss recreation because of unavoidable schedule conflicts, and the Recreation Department is no longer permitted to run any programs whatsoever, so its callout was eliminated entirely.
Additionally, a small percentage of inmates were issued Rec Passes that would permit access at any time while Recreation was open. Inmates who worked at night, for instance, such as Companions who observe inmates confined to suicide watch, were granted Rec Passes because they worked graveyard and slept during the day and throughout their unit’s normal recreation hours. Now that Rec Passes have been abolished,
inmates like Companions are forced to choose between recreation or an adequate sleep routine, in order to work the nightshift and supply ISCI with an essential service.
NO MORE SPORTS LEAGUES
Since its construction in 1974, the Yard boasted a robust tradition of organized sports leagues. Depending on the time of year, an ISCI inmate could participate in a Chess League, Basketball League (two seasons a year: full court and 3-on-3), Football League, Marathon League, Racquetball League, Soccer League, Softball League, and Volleyball League. One or more Leagues would be in season in any given month, but the highlight of everyone’s year was the intramural softball season, where inmates from all over the Yard would organize into a dozen teams and compete for the championship. A season schedule would be posted and individual teams would be placed on the Rec callout for the date and time of their games–typically held in the evenings when most inmates were finished with school or work, a gratifying end to a hot summer’s day. Other sports leagues followed in this fashion, all together creating an abundance of structured activities that not only engaged inmates bodily but also mentally by reinforcing pro-social accountability among peers while working toward group objectives.
Full Stop . . . not a single league survived COVID and organized sports are no longer hosted at ISCI.
Granted, the ballfields and tracks had been closed for the last few years because of staffing issues, but the Recreation Building was operating, and some scale of organized activities like a chess league or a basketball season could have taken place indoors. And now, as of August 2024 to present, the fields and track have reopened and Recreation is now fully staffed. Inmates anticipated the good news that Recreation programs would resume when staff levels increased, but they were disappointed. As of the July 2025, no Recreation programs have returned. And at the July 16th ISCI Town Hall meeting, officials announced intramural sports leagues officially will not be returned to ISCI.
Why? A soccer or basketball league could start within a week, if allowed to. The equipment is there. No money is needed, nor additional staff. (Sports have always been organized and officiated by the inmates at ISCI.) The means to organize and run these sports still exist in the gym. There was no adverse incident with inmates that caused the leagues to be shut down (just COVID). So why kill a program that offers real life-lessons and constructive activities, and serves over 400 inmates (all sports combined) a year in addition to their normal recreation time?
TOURNAMENTS REDUCED
Prior to COVID, four or five tournaments (e.g., billiards, dominoes, handball, and horseshoes) would be held over the holiday weekend for each major federal holiday. Ten or twelve events centered around the 4th of July alone. A tournament would last a day or two and prizes were awarded to the first and second place victors of each event to celebrate the particular holiday. These events occurred at least ten times a year, around 60 tournaments a year.
In the year 2024, ISCI Recreation was permitted to host thirteen intramural holiday tournaments. They went smooth, no problems. Progress, we thought. Then in March 2025, ISCI administration eliminated the intramural component for these events. This meant Recreation could no longer run a callout for special events and that all tournaments would have to be split into two separate events, one for each of the two Recreation cohorts. A step backward. Now inmates can only participate on their own recreation time (trading away their gym time to do it), and tournaments–instead of being completed in an afternoon–are now broken in peices and spread over several days. Effectively, they took the “special” out of special event, and participation is predictably low.
NO MORE HOBBY SHOP
Two large rooms in Recreation. One, a fully stocked woodshop, including all essential woodworking equipment like table saws, belt sanders, and routers. The other, designated for leatherwork, painting, model making, and other assorted hobbies. The two areas constituted the Hobby Shop. An inmate without a serious disciplinary infraction for at least a year could apply for a Hobby Shop locker and workspace. Once admitted, the inmate could invest up to a few thousand dollars in materials and tools to secure in their locker for a chosen hobby. The inmate could access their locker and hobby away the hours any time the Hobby Shop was open (about 8 hours every day of the week).
For the better part of five decades, the Yard’s bustling Hobby Shop was a sanctuary for craftsmen and an institute where young inmates could pick up new skills that they might ply in their lives once released from prison. But more importantly, inmates would produce tangible items they would mail to family and friends, nurturing community bonds that are so critical for inmates to succeed after incarceration. Inmates could also provide a public service by making hobby donations to charitable organizations. Several auctions by the Idaho Special Olympics and displays by the Idaho Historical Society, for example, have benefited from crafts donated by ISCI inmates.
Hobby Shop inmates were assured things would return to normal operations once the COVID-era restrictions were lifting and staff levels came up. Here we are, COVID restrictions lifted, Recreation staff numbers back up, but the administration’s idea of “normal operations” didn’t include a Hobby Shop.
They gutted it instead, and moved the Property Department from its former location to Recreation, taking over the Hobby Shop areas and other portions of Recreation.
They didn’t have to–the old Music Room space was big enough to hold the Property Department, bigger than the space it occupied previously. Instead, the ISCI administration PREFERRED to totally remove a hallmark program as old as the prison itself.
NO MORE MUSIC PROGRAM
For decades ISCI benefited from a Music Program where inmates could learn a musical instrument and music bands had regular practices and performed concerts. A few times a year, inmates and staff enjoyed concerts put on by the Recreation Department. Once a month, musicians could showcase their talents at the Chapel’s Music Night program (which had an open mic component), and the Yard greatly anticipated their performance at the end of each month. Band members also served the institution by playing at graduation ceremonies and similar events.
Unlike other programs, the Music Program did survive the COVID-pandemic restrictions, albeit diminished and limping along in Recreation as the COVID quarantine limitations gradually lifted. But before opening fully as the pandemic passed, it was shut down. At the time, Recreation was understaffed and the necessary vigilance wasn’t available to prevent the Music Program’s inmate clerk from abusing his computer privileges.
The response from administration was nuclear. Not only was the offender punished severely and sent to a maximum security facility, but the entire Music Program was abolished as well. In this instance, the program didn’t atrophy away during COVID lockdowns like the others in Recreation, but was taken as collective punishment for the entire institution. As a lasting reminder that officials are more than willing to punish the innocent masses for the infraction of one, the room in Recreation that housed the Music Program has been closed. For over three years at this point, the room is off limits. Not only can’t the Music Program return, but no other program can use the space instead. A large room in Recreation sits wasted and dark, storing the remains of music equipment that Recreation staff are too lazy to ship out.
Although security oversight of Recreation has increased now that is it fully staffed and the music equipment is still on the premises, ISCI officials are nonetheless deaf to the chorus of pleas to return the Music Program.
CHAPEL SERVICES REDUCED
The Chapel building closed completely during the pandemic. For about two years, ISCI did not permit Chapel services of any kind. As restrictions eased, the Chapel opened, but offered much less to ISCI than before the pandemic lockdown. At first it was a staffing issues–lesser staff availability, fewer services available. Now the Chapel employs two part-time chaplains and a full-time security officer, as much staff as ever was needed to run the Chapel at full tilt. And yet, the Chapel offers half the services it did pre-pandemic.
Under previous administrations, the ISCI Chapel opened seven days a week. Services were held in the large central Sanctuary and in each of the four surrounding classrooms. Collectively, five different services or classes would be held in the afternoon (2:00 – 4:00 p.m.), and another five in the evening (7:00 – 9:00 p.m.). Up to ten services a day accommodated diverse interfaith needs. Pre-pandemic, the Chapel scheduled upwards of SEVENTY services a week. The Outdoor Worship Area (“OWA”)–a little open-air plot of land separate from the Chapel building–provided at least another TEN religious services throughout the week.
Post-pandemic, to date, the Chapel is open daily, but offers only forty weekly services, and only one OWA service a week.
The dearth of opportunity means an ISCI inmate is more likely to miss work, recreation, and school to attend their service, or vice versa. For example, the Native American religious group would have a general weekly meeting at the Chapel and another service later that week for a cultural Drum Practice. Then on Saturdays, the Native Americans could attend a smudge ceremony at the OWA. Every Sunday they’d perform OWA sweat lodge ceremonies all day. That was one week under the pre-pandemic regime. Now they are allotted one weekly religious service at the Chapel and one sweat lodge ceremony a month at the OWA. If a Native American inmate has, say, a medical appointment that coincides with the monthly sweat lodge ceremony, that person must forfeit the service. They would be denied their most important religious expression for two months at least, in this example. The hardship is unnecessary: No logistical reason exists for this extent of reduction in religious services.
NO MORE DOG PROGRAM
The Idaho Humane Society sponsored a Dog Program at ISCI for over a decade. In this program, a dozen or so rescued dogs would spend eight to twelve weeks under intensive training by inmate Dog Handlers. Each dog would live in a cell with two inmates–a Primary and a Secondary Handler–who would care for and train the dog for adoption. Prison dogs were highly trained and highly sought after, the proceeds from which being reinvested into the rehabilitation of strays, rescues, and last-chance problem dogs.
The mere presence of the dogs housed at ISCI was beneficial to the population as a whole. Dog therapy–nothing more normalizing and calming than the ability of an inmate to decompress and pet a dog for few minutes.
The program was halted “temporarily” during the COVID-restriction years. But now that the restrictions are lifted, and despite promises, the Dog Program hasn’t been returned to the Yard. Another extremely beneficial program dies at ISCI.
NO MORE VEGETABLE GARDEN
In the years before the COVID pandemic struck, industrious inmates raised a verdant vegetable garden on an unused acre plot of dirt behind the ISCI Chapel building. A little motivation and a handful of inmates produced a variety of common garden goods that offset food costs and introduced a healthy, fresh option into an otherwise dreary, highly processed prison diet. But the garden was not replanted after the COVID pandemic. Instead there are weeds, dead grass, and abandoned picnic tables, broken and sun bleached–a fitting symbol for the current condition of the Yard.
INMATE WORK FORCE REDUCED
How could disrepair be tolerated in a place with a ready force of cheep or free labor like a prison? Incompetence.
Whatever reasons prison officials might conjure in response would be unacceptable because the facts show that they COULD do more, but CHOOSE not to.
For example, during four years of COVID restrictions, ISCI officials made sure their lawns and rose garden were carefully and consistently manicured by inmates, while the prison’s ballfields were closed and abandoned during that same timeframe. Now the badly degraded fields are filled with rodent holes and aren’t being repaired, meaning the small ballfield is full of hazards for any inmate foolish enough to run on it, and the large ballfield is off limits. . . . But, hey, the rose garden looks good.
The tracks and fields could be fixed in less than two weeks of concerted labor. Inmate workers can easily patch the dirt fields and level out the tracks as they did routinely prior to COVID, but the Recreation Department has reduced its inmate workforce and will no longer employ a sufficient number of groundskeepers. Additionally, the Inmate Labor Detail (chiefly responsible for groundskeeping of the institution as a whole) is not permitted to do the job either (despite multiple requests), and is not available to perform day-to-day maintenance that the Recreation grounds require just to stay ahead of the damage from gophers and voles.
Partly, plain old dysfunction caused the poor condition of Recreation and other areas of the prison. And partly the reason is because the administration will no longer permit inmate volunteers to perform special projects, such as organizing into a crew of select workers who want the job done, and who would relish in even temporary work. There’s no shortage of such inmates, but they aren’t utilized. So nothing gets done and the ballfields are neglected.
NO MORE EXCUSES
Previous administrations understood that the housing units at ISCI were designed with tiny cells and small dayrooms because plenty of work, out-of-unit programs, and recreation were factored into the construction plans for the Yard facility. There’d be no reason for an inmate to be cooped up on their unit all day. As the prison population grew and less jobs and programs were available per capita, the Recreation Department and Chapel remained the bastion against idleness. Idle inmates get into trouble, learn bad lessons, and fester with anti-authority sentiment. The problem is compounded by overcrowding, making it doubly important to keep structure in the day of each inmate.
Under previous ISCI administrations, an inmate could work a shift, get in a workout, attend a religious service and/or educational class, then head back to recreation and play or watch, say, a basketball game. A day in the life of an ISCI inmate was full of constructive activities.
The script was flipped. ISCI inmates are now allotted narrow time slots for exercise, which can be missed for any number of schedule conflicts a few times a week. EVERY SINGLE Recreation Department program is gone, along with a significant number of programs once offered by other departments of the prison. Today an ISCI inmate might catch a two-hour Chapel service once a week, or head to Education a couple times a week for an hour or two. But to regularly escape their loud, stuffy, rowdy housing units, the best an ISCI inmate can hope for is a prison job.
Less than 400 inmate jobs, however, are offered at the 1,600-bed facility. What all this amounts to is that three-fourths of ISCI inmates spend an average of 20 hours a day locked in overcrowded housing units too small to accommodate them all at once, with few fulfilling outlets.
Prison administrators simply don’t seem to care. That disregard contravenes the Idaho Department of Corrections’ stated mission to cultivate an environment where guards and inmates work together toward rehabilitation goals, toward society’s interest in releasing well-adjusted, mentally healthy ex-cons. In attempt to foster civil discourse and alter negative public perception, IDOC mandated that all prisoners be addressed as “residents.” Department records, forms, and Identification Cards were expunged of terms like “inmate,” “offender,” and “prisoner,” and replaced with “resident.” Staff too must refer to prisoners by name or as “Resident.”
But it’s a farce. With one hand they offer consolation, but with the other hand they wipe out meaningful programs. And across the board PRISON CONDITIONS AT ISCI ARE FAR MORE OPPRESSIVE THAN THEY HAVE EVER BEEN.
Officials may admit some of these accusations, and deny others. In all cases they inevitably will spew the usual excuses of “lack of staff” and “security concerns” as reasons for eliminating most of the Yard’s traditional programs. Nonetheless, they can’t hide the inescapable fact that previous administrations faced similar staffing and security concerns and regardless ran the facility efficiently, with low violence, while maintaining dozens of programs for their inmates. So there’s no excusing these administrators for their failures.
(Please test the truth of this article. Delve past the spurious justifications and ad hoc rationalizations, and discover for yourself that conditions on the Yard are actually worse than portrayed here.)