Senate Judiciary Committee makes changes to House Bill 1019; Brophy & Sonnenberg team up to move forward with prison deal

The effort by the State of Idaho to move up to 1,200 inmates to the Kit Carson Correctional Facility in Burlington got new life on Feb. 12 when the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a marathon session, made major changes to House Bill 1019.

The bill came out of an interim committee on prison populations last fall, and at the time it was written, the State’s biggest concern was overcrowding at many State prisons. There was also an interest by some of the committee’s lawmakers in ending the use of private prisons, and the bill would start the State down that path.

The circumstances changed on Nov....