IDAHO, USA — After numerous reports to KTVB by family members of people incarcerated at the Idaho State Correctional Center concerning a lack of hot water for inmates, Jeff Ray, the Idaho Department of Correction public information officer, said that there have been several maintenance issues at the facility.
"One of the three boilers that provides hot water for about 1,800 of the 2,100 residents at Idaho State Correctional Center went down Dec. 17," stated Ray in an email. "The other two boilers went down Dec. 24."
One person said that both the hot water and the heaters were broken. Another said that their husband was sick, the showers were ice cold and the roof was leaking. Yet another told KTVB that not only are the showers cold but, because of understaffing, inmates are also losing their recreational time and their one-hour allotted time in the communal dayroom.
In the email, Ray stated that one of the hot water boilers was working as of Tuesday, Dec. 27, and a second will be working by Dec. 29. He furthered that the third boiler should be working sometime next week.
"In the meantime, we are renting three shower trailers," Ray wrote. "Each trailer has seven to eight shower stalls each. The trailers are expected to arrive this week."
In regards to the recreational time given to the inmates, Ray stated that the facility strives to provide as much rec time as possible.
"Rec time varies day to day based on staffing levels," wrote Ray. "Yesterday, ISCC offered four hours of rec time. On Tuesday, eight hours of rec time were offered."
According to Ray, in about one week the facility will also have 15 new officers that should, "ease the facility’s staffing crunch."
There are also roof leaks at the prison and some of them happen right over an inmates bunk; "When a leak occurs over a bunk, it is taken offline and the resident is moved to a different bunk until repairs can be made," stated Ray.
He added that none of the heating systems are currently down in the facility.
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