BOISE, May 20, 2011 – In response to the changing nature of Idaho’s inmate population and the need to further reduce expenses, the Idaho Department of Correction is closing Twin Falls Community Work Center in Twin Falls by August 1, 2011.
The work center has 81 beds and employs 13 staff members. Over the next two months offenders who are not scheduled to be released on parole before the facility’s closure will be transferred to other IDOC facilities.
All of the work center’s staff members will be offered new positions within IDOC. Several of those positions are with the IDOC probation and parole office in Twin Falls.
“I know it’s hard when the place you work closes,” says IDOC Director Brent Reinke. “The men and women who work at this facility are dedicated correctional professionals and we’re going to do our best to make this a smooth transition for them.”
The work center’s mission is to help inmates return to society following a period of incarceration. But Idaho courts are now sentencing more offenders to intensive drug and alcohol treatment programs. As a result, the demand for work center beds has gone down.
“Over the past four years we’ve succeeded in slowing the explosive growth rate that was underway with Idaho’s prison population,” Reinke says. “Now we have to adapt to a new type of inmate population, and closing this work center is one way we’re doing that.”
The closure of the facility will save IDOC about $1 million a year. The savings will be used to reduce the amount of unpaid time off IDOC employees will be required to take in new fiscal year which begins on July 1, 2011.
The Twin Falls Community Work Center opened in July of 1992. IDOC operates four other community work centers. Two are in the Boise area, one is in Nampa and one is Idaho Falls.
“We are grateful to the Magic Valley employers who have hired Twin Falls Community Work Center residents over the years,” Reinke says. “They have helped many offenders turn around their lives, and that is a legacy that will endure.
The building that houses the Twin Falls work center is the only work center building that is leased. The state of Idaho owns the other facilities.