• Sunday, June 12, 2016
Enterprise Editor Virginia Hutchins [ 208-735-3242 • vhutchins@magicvalley.com ] • B1
THE BIG STORY Behind Razor Wire the
LAURIE WELCH PHOTOS, TIMES-NEWS
This Cottonwood compound houses the Idaho Department of Correction’s Retained Jurisdiction Program at the North Idaho Correctional Institution.
Idaho Revamps its Retained Jurisdiction Program LAURIE WELCH lwelch@magicvalley.com
COTTONWOOD • Twin Falls 28-year-old Chaz Golding has spent a quarter of his life behind bars. His felony rap sheet includes seven years in prison in Nebraska for burglary and forgery, and possession of a firearm as a felon in Idaho — among other crimes. Can Golding redeem his life? And at what cost to Idaho?
Inmate Chaz Golding, 28, of Twin Falls, talks about things that raise his stress level during a May 12 group session at the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood.
With a revamped Retained Jurisdiction Program, state officials hope to break the cycle for inmates who continue to commit crimes. After Golding was arrested for stealing his girlfriend’s mother’s bank card, he took a plea deal. A judge sentenced him in January to the Idaho Department of Correction’s Retained Jurisdiction Program at the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood. If he fails to receive a probation recommendation from the Cottonwood staff this summer, he will spend the next two to seven years in prison — instead of raising his three preschool children. IDOC rolled out its revamped Retained Jurisdiction Program at four Idaho prisons this spring. Now the program requires more inclass practice for new learned skills and roleplaying of situations that put inmates at risk to commit new crimes. It’s a military-like regimen, and inmates say changing their criminal and addictive thinking is difficult work. The program’s overhaul followed an assessment that criticized it last year, and IDOC trained staff in the new program last fall. The Idaho Legislature bought into the Justice Reinvestment Act two years ago, when the state was at a crossroads: determining whether to build a new prison for an increasing offender population or to spend the money on programs aimed at fixing the root of the problem — criminal behavior and substance abuse addiction. IDOC has had a Retained Jurisdiction Program since 1972, but the program gets more emphasis now with the Legislature asking judges, IDOC and probation officers to use it more to reduce the costs of long-term incarceration. Golding’s 180-day program at Cottonwood costs taxpayers $10,417. A two-year prison sentence at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution would run $64,356.
High Expectations Inmates listen as facilitators teach them tools to combat substance abuse in the Retained Jurisdiction Program in Cottonwood.
More Inside: See more of the Times-News’ best work at Magicvalley. com/bigstory.
Idaho Banks on Therapy-based Treatment Reducing Recidivism, Page B2 Does Retained Jurisdiction Work? What Judges, Attorneys Say, Page B3
The idyllic forest setting of NICI on Radar Road belies reality: It’s where most of Idaho’s male criminal offenders are sent when judges place them in the Retained Jurisdiction Program. Their crimes range from driving under the influence to first-degree murder. On a hill above Cottonwood, the 11-building compound is surrounded by pine forest. On May 12, three deer munched grass a few hundred yards away from the parking lot, which looks more like a forest campground than a prison. But the cyclone of wire atop the fences ensures that the 400 men inside never forget they are imprisoned. Golding, also known as Greg Melton, said the
Inmate Numbers Number of inmates statewide in the Idaho Department of Correction’s Retained Jurisdiction Program: 2,500
2,400
2,300
2,200
2,100
2010
2012
2014
Source: Idaho Department of Correction program is hard. Much tougher than serving a term prison sentence. Please see PROGRAM, B2
B2 • Sunday, June 12, 2016
Program Continued from B1
“People say this isn’t prison. This is still prison to me,” said Golding, nervously perched on a chair pulled up to a long table in the warden’s office. His manner was polite and his appearance neat — buzz cut, jeans and maroon T-shirt with a name badge clipped to the neckline. A tattoo on his right forearm was the only vestige of his personality from the streets. “This isn’t a vacation.” The program’s inmates are expected to conduct themselves like they are working on turning their lives around and deserve a shot at probation. “It’s not easy. They have to take a look at their behaviors and see how they created victims and hurt their own families,” Terema Carlin, acting warden at NICI, said as she walked through the compound, past inmates gathered behind wire fences. Misbehavior or failure to demonstrate progress by participation in the programs means a quick trip back to county jail on “peanut butter and relinquishment day,” Golding said. The staff gets together at lunch weekly to discuss who isn’t cutting the mustard. That day, the inmate menu is peanut butter sandwiches. “We are always being watched,” Golding said. “Everybody is walking on eggshells that day. Some people think they are slick and sly, but they are not. It bites them in the butt. Main Street is closed, and they start calling people to the office where they are handcuffed and put in orange jumpsuits.” Inmates relinquished to serve their full prison sentences — “put on blast,” as Golding calls it — walk down Main Street and immediately board a bus headed for one of the termsentence prisons. There they wait for transportation back to county jails — and dates with their sentencing judges.
Life inside NICI
Housed in a former U.S. Air Force installation, the prisoners sleep in dormitory-style barracks, use communal bathroom and shower facilities and eat at a mess hall. They get up at 5 a.m., prepare for the day by 5:30 a.m., stand to be counted four times a day and spend hours in intense programs resembling group therapy. At 8:50 p.m., the lights go out. Some inmates work on getting their General Educational Development certificates or work at jobs in the compound’s laundry, kitchen or grounds maintenance. All are expected to use any free time constructively. T h e r e ’s n o m e s s ing around. This time, Golding said, he’s going to make his incarcerated time count. He wants to learn to correct his faulty thinking and make better choices. “I came from a family that was broken, so before family didn’t mean much to me,” Golding said. His mother and father both used drugs when he was growing up, and both landed in prison. When he was 11, he was put in foster care; a year later he was adopted. His brother died in March 2014 of an Oxycontin overdose at a motel; his sister was able to escape her destructive background and is now married and lives out of state. Golding was adopted into a good family, he said, but old habits die hard and he ran away, drank and smoked marijuana. Later he became addicted to methamphetamine. He believed he could get away with whatever he wanted to do. “I’m learning how to change those thought patterns,” he said. He’s learning skills: understanding how a situation makes him feel,
LAURIE WELCH, TIMES-NEWS
Mental health facilitator Terri Tackett leads a stress management session May 12 for inmates at the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood.
Idaho Banks on Therapy-based Treatment Reducing Recidivism LAURIE WELCH lwelch@magicvalley.com
BURLEY • A guy on the unit comes up and yells at you because you stepped on his bunk again getting to your bed. “How do you react?” said Terri Tackett, facilitator of a stress management class at North Idaho Correctional Institution. The answers came from 10 inmates from across Idaho, sentenced to the Idaho Department of Correction’s Retained Jurisdiction Program in Cottonwood. Their answers reflected defensive and aggressive attitudes and demonstrate the faulty thinking that may have landed them in prison. “How does that work for you guys?” Tackett asked. Tackett’s job is redirecting their thinking so it’s more socially acceptable and less likely to put them in hot water. She teaches them to identify the feelings of the person who is upset, paraphrase what was said and ask a clarifying question to de-escalate the encounter. The state is banking on the therapy-based treatment paying off. IDOC is overhauling its recidivism reduction programs in prison, probation and parole, including the Retained Jurisdiction Program. For an inmate whose judge retains jurisdiction for 365 days while he or she attends the program, the streamlining will mean fewer program components and a shift from a lot of written coursework — with much of it done outside the classroom — to more work in the classroom, including roleplaying and skill practice sessions. IDOC’s Retained Jurisdiction Program operates at four prison facilities, and it is the same treatment that’s offered to other prison inmates around the state, said Ashley Dowell, Division of Prisons deputy chief. The crux of the program is keeping people from committing new crimes
identifying others’ feelings and de-escalating confrontation. As part of the training Golding had to go back and identify all of his risky behavior, every rule broken — including moral rules — all the stealing, cheating and drug use, and why he did it, the consequences and how it affected his family. He wrote a report on
Recidivism Rates For three years, the Idaho Department of Correction tracked recidivism among inmates released in 2012 from the state's Retained Jurisdiction Program – before its fall 2015 revamping – and inmates released in 2012 after serving prison terms. Recidivism for inmates serving prison terms was counted only if they were sent back to prison. Recidivism for inmates in Retained Jurisdiction was counted if they were sent either back to the program or to serve a prison term. Among inmates rated before sentencing as low risk for recidivism: 50%
On probation after... Retained Jurisdiction
100%
prison term
Among inmates rated before sentencing as moderate risk for recidivism: On probation after... Retained Jurisdiction
50%
100%
50%
100%
prison term
Among inmates rated before sentencing as high risk for recidivism: On probation after... Retained Jurisdiction prison term Source: Idaho Department of Correction
— and keeping them out of prison. Skills practice for new learned behavior is an effective means of reducing the number of people who go on to commit another crime. But only three of the 12 components of the former program were running skills practice, Dowell said. The revised program has four components, some developed by the University of Cincinnati. All use small groups and a facilitator. During the sessions each participant is required to engage in discussions, examples and role playing. C o g n i t i ve - B e h av ioral Interventions for Substance Abuse, a 180-day program, helps inmates look at the impact drugs and alcohol have on their lives and helps them develop tools to make different choices. Small groups of eight to 10 inmates meet with a facilitator over 44 sessions. Activities help with cognitive, social, emotional and coping skills development. Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions for Sexual Offenders is taught over 180 days in 52 sessions. Inmates are taught strategies for avoiding sexual offending and related behaviors. Thinking for a Change is a 120-day program taught in 25 lessons. Developed by the National
each instance. “I’ve done 80 reports,” he said. Golding wants to change and said his girlfriend and three children, ages 5, 3 and 17 months, provide the motivation. “I don’t want to be away from my family anymore,” he said. “I’m tired of being a statistic. I’ve always been a negative statistic.”
Institute of Corrections, it concentrates on changing criminal thinking and includes skill development and training in cognitive restructuring, social skills development and development of problem-solving skills. Aggression Replacement Training, a 120-day program, targets cognitive, behavioral and emotional components of aggression to reduce aggressive behavior. The inmates are taught social skills to improve self control and redirect and reduce their anger. A fifth component, Advance Skills, will be implemented this summer. If an inmate completes the program, is placed on probation, relapses and is sent to Retained Jurisdiction again, he will be enrolled in the Advance Skills component, where he will practice the skills previously learned and do more role playing. Before the program change, the groups were being taught differently each time, Dowell said, and inmates were getting multiple messages about how to handle risky situations. Now, inmates who struggle with drug addiction give examples in class of situations that trigger their use. The class facilitator then coaches them on how they can avoid those situations or better deal with the
triggers. They also spend time acting out scenarios with classmates. IDOC did not previously offer all the program components at all of its facilities, and sometimes there were waiting lists. “The programs are now consistent,” Dowell said. Faced with one of the fastest growing prison populations in the nation, in March 2014 the state Legislature passed Idaho’s Justice Reinvestment Act. With the measure the state expected to avert between $134 million and $157 million in prison spending between 2015 and 2019 and reduce recidivism by 15 percent. In fiscal 2015, IDOC’s e s t i m a te d s ta tew i d e cost of the program was $24.2 million. The law requires IDOC to biennially submit a report to the governor and Legislature describing state-funded recidivism reduction programs, which includes the Retained Jurisdiction Program. In February 2015, IDOC asked the Council of State Governments to assess the impacts of its programs. The assessment recommended that IDOC eliminate its complicated Pathways System, which the Retained Jurisdiction Program operated under. Pathways appeared to be tailored to suit individual risk and needs, but in
Insidious Addiction
costs of an ankle monitor and probation. Instead, he was handcuffed in front of his wife and placed behind bars. He was transported to IDOC’s Receiving and Diagnostic Unit in Boise and then to Cottonwood for the sixmonth Retained Jurisdiction Program. The Legislature allows a judge to retain jurisdiction
Thomas Ryan Fitzgerald, 45, of Rupert, was arrested in his driveway in March 2015 on his third felony charge of driving under the influence in 10 years. He pleaded guilty, and the day of his sentencing hearing he expected the inconvenience and
reality several pathways were not used and others duplicated services, the report said. The assessment determined that most of the programs lacked standard criteria to determine when an offender had completed the program, a completion rate between 65 percent and 85 percent (most were lower), staff trained to look for negative effects of treatment, an average group size of eight offenders per facilitator, consistent skill practice and modeling of new behaviors, among other things. The report recommended that IDOC rely on a few core programs with a proven track record of effectiveness, a cognitive-behavioral approach, graduated skills practice and less reliance on punishment. IDOC staff began training for the new program’s rollout in November. The North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood was the first facility to get all four programs started this spring. Terema Carlin, acting warden at NICI, said IDOC is also working toward implementing more aftercare for inmates in their communities that later will include volunteer mentoring. “They are looking into that, and it will be invaluable,” Carlin said.
for 365 days, which gives the inmate time to make his way through the intake process where he is given a battery of tests and transported to one of the four Idaho prisons that provide the program. After completion, the inmate is bused back to the RDU, then waits for a ride back to county jail. Please see PROGRAM, B3
Sunday, June 12, 2016 • B3
LAURIE WELCH PHOTOS, TIMES-NEWS
Retained Jurisdiction Program inmates are moved between buildings under the watchful eye of guards May 12 at the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood.
Program Continued from B2
Fitzgerald spent 19 days in county jail before he was transported to the RDU. After six months in Cottonwood, he’ll spend another two to three weeks at the RDU before making it back to jail and his judge. “I was lucky to get a rider. I didn’t know it at the time,” said Fitzgerald, a meat cutter by trade. His easygoing demeanor and curly hair seemed more congruent with the local grocery than the warden’s office. “I didn’t know if my wife would be able to keep the house or the car and keep the bills up and not be on welfare while I’m here.” A “rider” is an informal term for the Retained Jurisdiction Program. It takes a while to grasp the luck. A week later in his office, Michael Crabtree, 5th District Judge in Cassia County, said offenders are often angry when he retains jurisdiction. “I tell them when I sentence them that they are going to be mad. I tell them to view it as a positive and put aside their anger and start working their program,” Crabtree said. “Some have a harder time putting aside their anger. If they do it and learn to control their thinking and re-engage in the correct process, it is a good sign that I can then put them on probation afterwards.” Crabtree flipped through case files from a silver rolling cart in his office. About 90 percent of them were drug- or alcohol-related charges or stemmed from substance abuse. Addiction is rampant and knows no boundaries, he said, and elements of substance abuse are in “virtually every crime.” Shifting criminal thinking from blame and immediate gratification to personal responsibility and caring about actions’ effects on others is no small feat. “You have to turn around a lifetime of bad thinking,” Crabtree said. Inside the NICI warden’s office May 12, Fitzgerald said he developed a problem with alcohol after his son was killed in a car crash. His ex-wife, he said, “drank herself to death.” “I was dealing with a lot of issues and tried to put a Band-Aid on it with alcohol,” he said. He now uses the few Please see PROGRAM, B4
Inmate Chaz Golding, left, of Twin Falls, participates in a stress management group May 12 at the North Idaho Correctional Institution.
Does Retained Jurisdiction Work? What Judges, Attorneys Say Fifth Judicial District judges, prosecutors and attorneys said they are hopeful and a bit skeptical that the state’s new Retained Jurisdiction Program will accomplish its goals.
Michael Crabtree Cassia County 5th District Judge
Crabtree said he can’t help remembering when the prior program was rolled out in 2010. “It promised good results and was not quite so good in the end.” It especially fell short in dealing with substance abuse, which is at the root of most of the crime he sees. Crabtree remains Crabtree “anxious and hopeful” that the new version of the Retained Jurisdiction Program will deliver all that’s promised. “We’re all so much better if we can reduce crime, keep families intact and not send people behind the wire in Boise.” Crabtree questions the validity of the Idaho Department of Correction’s recidivism rates — higher for inmates released from riders than for those who served term sentences — because they
measure the old rider program and didn’t measure long enough. “You want to make the right decisions, meet the Legislature’s standards, and when one of the factors you look at are stats that are misleading, it makes it complex,” Crabtree said. “So you talk about it on the record, the lawyers argue about it and then in the end you try to make a decision based on this individual and their prospect of becoming a functioning member of the community.”
Kent Jensen Defense Attorney
For those who take it to heart, it’s a wonderful program, Jensen said. For those less inclined, it won’t make a difference. “I’ve never thought throwing a person in prison for five years at the taxpayers’ expense is a good investJensen ment,” Jensen said. Judges don’t have many alternatives, he said, and a rider is one of the best. “My experience over the years has been positive,” Jensen said. “It is a very useful program for firsttime and other offenders. It gets
them in treatment, which if they were left to their own devices, they wouldn’t be able to afford.” Results run the gamut. “I’ve had clients who have done very well and it’s helped them become successful, and others who don’t do as well,” Jensen said. But contrary to public perception, he said, the program doesn’t let people off scot-free. “When they go up there, there is no guarantee that they won’t be relinquished back to the judge,” Jensen said. “It depends on their initiative, and it’s on their shoulders to succeed.”
Lance Stevenson Minidoka County Prosecutor
Stevenson remains skeptical. “As a prosecutor I have to look at the recidivism rates,” he said. One woman got out of the program and reoffended within 24 hours. “As a prosecutor I’m always worried about putting someone in a proStevenson gram where they will be out in six months and go commit another crime in the community when I can put them in prison for five
years and take away that risk,” Stevenson said. Stevenson said the state Legislature defined tiered offenses with the thought that someone committing a first-time felony may be able to “fix” himself with in-treatment by doing a term of probation. He said it is “very unlikely” he would recommend anything but incarceration for a violent crime.
Doug Abenroth Cassia County Prosecutor
“The rider program has a place in the criminal justice system, and it is beneficial in seeking the best interest of justice,” Abenroth said. But as a prosecutor he anguishes over how to best use it. “One of my main Abenroth goals as a prosecutor is the protection of society. The rider program sometimes can provide that protection, but it is not always the right tool.” There simply are no research or statistics at this point to prove it will be successful, Abenroth said. “I’m curious as to how it will go.” —Laurie Welch
B4 • Sunday, June 12, 2016
Program
Inmate Costs in Retained Jurisdiction The Idaho Department of Correction operates nine prisons in the state, and a 10th is operated by Management Training Corp., for a total of 8,305 beds. The most expensive prison to operate is the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, at a cost of $88.16 per inmate per day. The lowest daily inmate cost is $49.92 at Idaho State Correctional Center. By comparison, the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood, where the state sends most of the male inmates in its Retained Jurisdiction Program, has a cost of $57.87 per inmate per day.
Continued from B3
dollars a week his wife is able to send to purchase phone time with her and his 3-year-old granddaughter. It keeps him connected to his life on the outside — and sane. “You can see the ones in here that won’t make it by the way they treat the staff,” Fitzgerald said. “I just want to tell them to wake up. Tell them you’ve been given a chance to be here, and if you can’t obey them while you are in here how are you going to take it to the streets?”
‘A Change in Society’ Fitzgerald, who has a sixth-grade education, was assigned to the substance abuse program and is working on getting his GED at the prison school. One risk factor for recidivism is lack of education, Carlin said, so Cottonwood inmates have access to a library and computers, and they learn resume writing and job-seeking skills. Twenty inmates a month get their GEDs at the prison. “We have an opportunity with this population to really make a change in society,” Carlin said. Along with the school building, the Cottonwood compound includes a library and computer room, a medical building and a chapel. It has 80 staff members — including 16 case managers — plus eight contract medical staffers. Medical care is provided 16 hours a day, including dental and mental health services, and inmates must fill out a request prior to receiving treatment. As inmates move from one program to another, to lunch or to their dorms, guards stand at attention in the roadways between buildings. The inmates walk
North Idaho Correctional Institution costs per inmate per day: Institution personnel
$29.36
Medical services
$14.77
Allocated central services LAURIE WELCH PHOTOS, TIMES-NEWS
During a substance abuse class at the North Idaho Correctional Institution, inmate Thomas Ryan Fitzgerald, 45, of Rupert, gives a scenario from his life that triggers his addictive behavior.
Ma See more photos from inside the North Idaho Correctional Institution.
when told and stand still when told. They are fed 2,900 calories a day. Breakfast might be sausage and eggs or coffee cake. Lunch might be a sandwich, chips and dessert; two times a week, lunch is hot soup made from leftovers. Inmates’ favorite dinner: hamburgers and french fries, salad and dessert. On holidays they are served traditional meals. On the Fourth of July they are given disposable plates and picnic lunches and allowed to take them outside. When Fitzgerald arrived at the compound and observed the communal quarters, he said, he thought: “What have I gotten myself into now?” There is no such thing as your own space or free time, and there is no sleeping until noon or lounging around. You can’t do those things and function well in society anyway, he said. “But if you didn’t have
LAURIE WELCH, TIMES-NEWS
An inmate follows along in a substance abuse class at the North Idaho Correctional Institution.
$2.24
Utilities
$2.00
Capital outlay
$1.02
Institutional supplies
$0.59
Specific use supplies
$0.37
Other services
$0.37
Professional services
$0.36
Insurance
$0.32
Repair and maintenance services
$0.25
Communications
$0.22
Travel
$0.22
Repair and maintenance supplies
$0.21
Rentals and operating leases
$0.15
Fuel
$0.10
Administrative supplies
$0.09
Employee development
$0.06
Data processing supplies
$0.04
Administrative services
$0.01
Miscellaneous expenditures
$0.01
TOTAL
those skills before, you’ll have them coming out of here.” When you live among so many inmates you have to watch what you say, not only with words, but with facial expressions, Fitzgerald said, and you have to stop and think about what you’ll say before you say it. You have to remain on guard all the time, he said, and the stress level is high. Fitzgerald realizes he will always be an alcoholic, even if he stays sober. And he’s willing to use what he’s learned to maintain his sobriety — even if it means an inquisitive stare as he places a forefinger to his
temple as a cue to remember the thought process he’s been taught. “I don’t want to come back,” he said. The thought of returning makes him work harder when he’s called on to get up in front of the nine other inmates in his substance abuse group and role-play an alcohol drinking trigger scenario from his life. In class May 12, Fitzgerald wrung his hands and fidgeted in his chair as his turn grew closer. When it arrived, he identified one of his triggers: his father calling and inviting him for a day of fishing. For the pair, fishing always means beer.
$5.11
Food and dietary
$57.87 Source: Idaho Department of Correction
In front of the class, with another inmate playing the role of his father, he worked through the program steps: identifying his feelings and finding ways to deal with the trigger rather than
succumbing to the booze. The sweaty palms were worth it, he said. “I’m too old for this stuff. I’m learning my lesson. I don’t want my granddaughter to see this.”
Laurie Welch is a Mini-Cassia reporter. She has covered crime and court news for nearly two decades.
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