2000 Press Releases

Aug. 23 - Maximum security inmate assaults two correctional officers
Aug 9 - Water well pump failure prompts cancellation of visitation at prisons
June 27 - Idaho Offenders incarcerated in New Mexico to return to Gem State.
April 14 - Inmate escapes from the South Idaho Correctional Institution
April 5 - Idaho to transfer 100 inmates to New Mexico facility
March 23  - Old Idaho Penitentiary to close April 1-7 for training exercises
January 28 - Idaho to transfer 100 inmates to New Mexico facility
January 10 - Viker named warden at North Idaho Correctional Institution

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Maximum security inmate assaults two correctional officers

BOISE - Two correctional officers at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution were assaulted by an inmate Wednesday (Aug. 23) afternoon, the Idaho Department of Correction reported.

The assault occurred at 1:38 p.m. in the common area outside a tier of cells on A Block. The institution is currently under lockdown and the Ada County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident.

The injured correctional officers are Todd D. Jackson and Kelly W. Hansen. Both were transported to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Jackson was in serious but stable condition late Wednesday afternoon after undergoing surgery for facial and neck lacerations. Hansen was treated for facial lacerations and a fractured nose.

The alleged assailant is Benjamin Martin Hatton, 20. Hatton was sentenced in 1996 in Ada County to a 5-15 year sentence on a felony robbery charge. In July 1998, he was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in a July 1997 riot at the Idaho Correctional Institution - Orofino. In October 1998, he pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated battery for assaulting two correctional officers at IMSI in February 1998. He received two 5-12 years sentences to run concurrently.

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Water pump failure prompts cancellation of visitation at prisons

BOISE - the failure of a well pump that provides water to the three-prison complex south of Boise has prompted the cancellation of visitation until at least Friday (Aug. 11), the Idaho Department of Correction reported Wednesday (Aug. 11), the Idaho Department of Correction said Wednesday.

The main pump failed on Friday, August 4, and a backup pump failed Tuesday afternoon. A replacement pump is expected to be installed and running by late Thursday (Aug. 10). The state Bureau of Disaster Services and the National Guard have provided tanker trucks and large storage tanks to the prison complex, which includes the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, the Idaho State Correctional Institution, the South Idaho Correctional Institution and the South Boise Community Work Center.

"Our emergency plan has been successfully implemented," said Bona Miller, administrator of the Division of Prisons. "Staff have done an excellent job in responding to the situation by insuring inmates have prorable sanitation facilities, water and ice. Inmates have been understanding of the problem and cooperative throughout the crisis."

Inmate visitation was cancelled Wednesday due to the lack of adequate sanitation facilities for visitors. Visitation is expected to resume Friday.

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Idaho offenders incarcerated in New Mexico to return to the Gem State

BOISE - The transfer of 600 Idaho inmates currently housed out-of-state will begin next week, the Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) announced Tuesday (June 27).

The inmates are housed at the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan, N.M. The first transport of 200 inmates will take place the week of July 3-7. Two additional transports of 200 inmates each are scheduled during July. The IDOC will have no inmates housed outside Idaho when the transports are completed.

A majority of the out-of-state inmates will be transferred to the new Idaho Correctional Center (ICC), a 1,250-bed medium- and minimum-security prison. ICC is located on Pleasant Valley Road across from the south Boise prison complex. The new prison is managed by Corrections Corporation of America, a Nashville, Tenn.-based private company. CCA, which also manages the Cibola County facility, will bear the cost of transporting the Idaho inmates from New Mexico.

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BOISE - An inmate at the South Idaho Correctional Institution escaped from the facility early Friday (April 14) morning, the Idaho Department of Correction reported.
Inmate David Allan Marshall, 29, was discovered missing about 8 a.m. Security staff at the institution believe Marshall scaled the perimeter fence.

Marshall is 5-feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 146 pounds. He has brown eyes and hair. He has an appendix scar, a bullet scar on his left thigh, a scar above his right eye and tattoos of the grim reaper and a snake on his right arm. He also may have cut his right wrist while climbing over the fence.

Marshall was serving time as a parole violator. His original charges are two counts of grand theft out of Ada and Clearwater counties and one count of eluding a police officer out of Twin Falls County. He was scheduled to be released Oct. 1.

Anyone with information about the escape is urged to contact the Ada County Sheriff's Department at 377-6610.

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BOISE - One hundred Idaho inmates will be transported to a prison in New Mexico within the next 30 days to ease overcrowding, the Idaho Department of Correction announced Wednesday (April 5).
Those inmates will join 500 Idaho inmates already incarcerated at the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan, N.M.

Corrections Corporation of America, a Nashville, Tenn.-based business that operates the Cibola facility, will bear the cost of transporting the inmates to New Mexico (saving Idaho taxpayers up to $50,000) and back to Idaho when a new 1,250-bed prison south of Boise opens. The new prison is expected to open July 1.

The Cibola prison is the only out-of-state facility housing Idaho inmates.

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BOISE - The Old Idaho Penitentiary state historic site in east Boise will be closed to the public April 1-7 so Idaho Department of Correction personnel can conduct emergency preparedness training, the Idaho State Historical Society announced Thursday.

The Old Penitentiary, a popular tourist site at 2445 E. Old Penitentiary Road, is usually open for self-guided tours from noon to 5 p.m. seven days a week. The historic site, operated by the Historical Society, will reopen Saturday, April 8. The hours of operation will be extended to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. after Memorial Day (May 29).

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Idaho to transfer 100 inmates to New Mexico facility

BOISE - One hundred Idaho inmates will be transported to a prison in New Mexico within the next 30 days to ease overcrowding, the Idaho Department of Correction announced Friday (Jan. 28).
Those inmates will join 400 Idaho inmates already incarcerated in the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan, N.M.

Corrections Corp. of America, a Nashville, Tenn.-based business that operates the Cibola facility, will bear the cost of transporting the inmates to New Mexico, (saving Idaho taxpayers up to $50,000) and back to Idaho when the new 1,250-bed Idaho Correctional Center (ICC) opens. The ICC is expected to open July 1, 2000.

The Cibola prison is the only out-of-state facility housing Idaho inmates.

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BOISE - Vickie Viker has been named warden of the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood, the Idaho Department of Correction announced Monday (Jan. 10).
Viker has served as acting warden at NICI since May 1999, after warden Bill Pardini resigned.
"Vicki stepped in at critical time at NICI," said Bona Miller, administrator of the Division of Prisons at the IDOC. "She has been instrumental in developing a new vision for the facility and has guided the staff in the development of long-range plans to improve the program."

Viker has been with the Department for 10 years. She also has worked as a social worker and human resources supervisor (HRS) at the Idaho State Correctional Institution and the HRS at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. She was named deputy warden at NICI in October 1997.
NICI, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, provides court assessments and programming to male retained jurisdiction inmates.

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