Volunteers & Mentors

Volunteers are an integral part of the IDOC mission of keeping the public safe and providing opportunties for offenders to change. Volunteers work within the prisons to provide religious classes, specialized training, and unique teaching opportunities.

Free2Succeed mentors come from all walks of life, all ages, and a from a variety of economic, social, and educational backgrounds.  Mentors will help provide a "bridge" for offenders who are returning to Idaho's communities from incarceration. The goal of Free2Succeed is to provide offenders who are willing to participate in the program with a mentor who will work with them side-by-side to ensure a smooth and successful transition and help reduce the chance of recidivism.

UPDATE FOR VOLUNTEER SERVICES IN IDOC FACILITIES: IDOC is constantly assessing the situation with respect to volunteers resuming their volunteer activities in IDOC facilities. At this time, although we are not yet ready to open our facilities to all volunteers, we are looking at allowing some volunteers access to resume volunteer services. The facility VRCs are currently reviewing the volunteers in their respective facility and will be reaching out to a few volunteers about coming in to provide services. It may be one volunteer per faith/religion/activity.

HOWEVER - beginning in January, sometime exactly when is yet to be determined, the number of volunteers will be very limited given the state of COVID - which is different for every facility - and the accommodations we can make to safely allow some volunteers access. 

PLEASE contact the facility VRC for more details for that specific facility but what this may look like at this point is:

• We will not be accepting new volunteer applications just yet.
• Regular, green-badged volunteers will be given priority.
• Limited service volunteers are still on hold until further notice.
• Facility schedules must be able to support the volunteer service/activity - check with the facility VRC.
• Masks will be MANDATORY to be worn at all times in the facility and you will not be allowed entry without one.
• A volunteer allowed to come in WILL NOT be required to be vaccinated and we will not be asking. 
• Social distancing is required (the VRC will be able to provide more detail as to what that may look like).
• Not all volunteers will be admitted simply due to numbers. The VRCs, in consultation with each facility adminsitration, will be making the determination as to who and when will be coming in.
• We will run a 2022 annual background check on those volunteers who will be coming in. You do not need to submit another application.
• Volunteers can, at any time, be restricted again from entering a facility due to changes in COVID so please be aware of that.
• Volunteer training will resume, hopefully in January, to accommodate those who will be returning to the facilities. Any volunteer is welcome to attend when those are scheduled in order to meet the annual training requirement for 2022 but just because you attend a training does not guarantee that you will be able to come in just yet. 

We are eager to have ALL the volunteers back and rest assured the residents you are there to serve area are as well, but we want to make sure it is done safely and with as minimal risk as possible which is why we are cautiously gong slow to start. All new volunteer applications, requests for level 2 volunteer status, and the processing of volunteer badges is still suspended until further notice. (UPDATED December 21, 2021)