The number of Idaho prison inmates per capita has increased almost 400 percent in the past 17 years, and the state's inmates are getting older and serving longer terms, according to a new report.
The report, prepared by Boise State University criminology professor Robert Marsh, was presented recently to the Idaho Board of Correction at its monthly meeting in Boise.It updates a 1980 survey of the state's prison population and recommends future research needs and policies to respond to identified problems. Foremost among those recommendations is further study to find the cause of the dramatic per capita growth rate.
According to Marsh's report, the rate of incarceration in Idaho prisons has skyrocketed from 55 inmates per 100,000 residents in 1973 to more than 190 inmates per 100,000 in February 1990.