BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Sixteen years ago, all of Idaho’s prisons were owned by the state, and they were nearly chock-full. The prison population was also growing at a rapid rate, thanks to years of tough-on-crime legislation.

    It was clear the state needed a new prison. What wasn’t clear was how it would be paid for, and who would run it.

    In a 1997 paper that then-Gov. Phil Batt dubbed the “Committee of One Sentencing Study,” he noted that in 1995 there were 3200 state inmates. Just two years later, that number had grown by 28 percent to 4100.

    By April 1997, the Idaho Board of Correction was told by correction department officials that the prison population was increasing at a rate of about 38 inmates per month, and the state’s entire prison system only had 112 available beds, most at a northern Idaho prison designed for short-term “bootcamp” inmates. More prisoners would need to be shipped out of state soon.

    Batt had spent the past several months talking to lawmakers, judges and Idaho Department of Correction officials and pushing for sentencing alternatives that would get inmates for non-violent offenses out of prison quicker, making more room for the worst criminals. He also looked at ways to build the new prison, and quickly hit on privatization as his preferred solution.

    The Idaho Board of Correction had been preparing for the same eventuality, calling in outside consultants and workers with the state’s Division of Financial Management to research privatization possibilities.

    Consultant Richard Crane told the board they should have another expert come in and research how much it would cost the Idaho Department of Correction to run the facility. A review of Batt’s papers at the Idaho State Historical Archives, the board minutes from 1996 and 1997 and a search of the state’s legislative library uncovered no hint that any such expert was ever brought in. IDOC financial manager Dave Sorensen, who was part of the department’s financial division at the time, said he doesn’t remember any cost comparison study being done.

    Instead, former IDOC director Jim Spaulding and officials with the state’s Division of Financial Management agreed to use the cost per day figure for the Idaho State Correctional Institution.

    At the time, ISCI had roughly the same number inmates that the new prison was to have. The inmates were also classified as either minimum- or medium-security, the same classification levels expected for the new prison.

    But the similarities stopped there. ISCI is the state’s oldest lockup, and it sprawls across a 65-acre campus. Inmates must frequently be moved from one building to another for meals, recreation time, therapy and education sessions. Multiple corners and nooks inside and in between buildings mean there are “line-of-sight” issues: More guards are required to make sure inmates aren’t hiding and getting into trouble. It’s also where all of the inmates who are elderly or who have chronic medical needs are housed.

    The new prison was to be built on a much smaller campus, and it would be designed with security and technology in mind. That would make it more efficient to run.

    The 1997 Legislature granted the Board of Correction the authority to enter into contracts with private prison providers. The state ultimately awarded the contract to build and operate a 1,250-bed prison to Corrections Corporation of America. In a letter to lawmakers in December 1997, Batt said CCA’s proposal was set to save 14 percent over Idaho’s operating costs and 33 percent over the state’s construction costs. Idaho’s estimated construction cost was $65 million, and the cost per day figure was $46.00. CCA’s bid came in $7 lower on the cost-per-day, and $15 million less for construction.

    The state named the new lockup the Idaho Correctional Center, or ICC. It opened in July 2000.

    ICC appeared to be operating uneventfully for several years, until inmates began filing so many lawsuits alleging similar civil rights abuses that a federal judge began consolidating them. Some of the cases were ultimately dismissed, some were settled and some are still winding through the courts. Amid the lawsuits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Idaho acknowledged that the FBI was also investigating the lockup for alleged abuses against prisoners. That investigation is ongoing.

    CCA has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, although in response to one lawsuit brought by about two dozen prisoners it agreed to make widespread changes in how it operated the prison.

    Meanwhile, the state fined CCA for failing to meet several terms of the contract, including having enough substance abuse treatment providers on staff.

    Nevertheless, the state decided to move forward with building a second private prison. The Correctional Alternative Placement Program, built and operated by private company Management Training Corporation, opened in the summer of 2010.

    The state may have to considering opening yet another prison soon. Idaho now has roughly 7,800 inmates, and a follow-up report on prison facilities by the Office of Performance Evaluations released last week noted that Idaho prisons are operating again at or near capacity. The Idaho Department of Corrections estimates that another 588 beds will be needed this year and 1,200 additional beds needed by the year 2015.