Idaho lawmakers have ordered an independent investigation into the state's handling of sexual abuse allegations involving prison staff, following a series of reports by InvestigateWest. The bipartisan Joint Legislative Oversight Committee voted on Friday to direct the Office of Performance Evaluation to assess prevention, reporting, investigations and response to staff sexual misconduct, and to recommend improvements.
The decision comes five months after InvestigateWest's 'Guarded by Predators' series revealed sexual misconduct allegations against dozens of women's prison guards, which were inconsistently tracked, frequently dismissed without thorough investigation and rarely prosecuted. A letter from five lawmakers requesting the review cited 'systemic failures across all of Idaho's women's correctional facilities'.
Senator James Ruchti, who presented the request, said the reporting was the 'genesis' of the inquiry. He noted that constituents were 'very alarmed' by the articles. The evaluation will not investigate individual allegations but will determine whether systemic problems exist in reporting, training and other procedures.
The vote follows a mixed response from state leaders. Internal emails obtained by InvestigateWest show that the Department of Correction director emailed lawmakers before publication to provide 'talking points', arguing the 'gist' of the reporting was not true. The department later defended its processes but did not identify factual errors. The governor's office also advised state police to withhold information from reporters.
However, some steps have been taken to address issues highlighted in the series. In November, the prison system reopened a case to reverse a previous finding, updated its sexual misconduct policy, and backed a bill to close a gap in the state's prison sexual abuse law. The Office of Performance Evaluation's director assured lawmakers that his office has access to any records and can issue subpoenas if necessary.
