Idaho State Correctional Institution


Idaho State Correctional Institution is an Idaho Department of Correction state prison for men in unincorporated Ada County, Idaho, near Kuna. Located in the desert several miles south of the Boise Airport, it is one of a cluster of seven detention facilities known as the "South Boise Prison Complex." The other prisons in the area are the Correctional Alternative Placement Program, the Idaho State Correctional Center, the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, the South Boise Women's Correctional Center, the South Idaho Correctional Institution, and the South Idaho Correctional Institution-Community Work Center.
ISCI is the oldest operating prison in the state, with a capacity of 1,446 inmates. It also has special-use beds for infirmary, outpatient mental health, and geriatric offenders. ISCI was opened in December 1973 as the state prison, after serious riots in 1971 and 1973 destroyed much of the century-old Idaho State Penitentiary in east Boise. A riot in the summer of 1980 at the prison caused damages in the millions of dollars, mostly in the maximum security area.
The institution is surrounded by a double fence, patrolled by sentry dogs, with six operational towers to monitor perimeter security and offender movement. The facility includes a chapel, recreation center with two large tracks and ballfields, an accredited school, a large correctional industries/vocational rehabilitation operation, and a fully functioning medical clinic with 28 inpatient beds.
ISCI also hosts the Inmate Dog Alliance Program of Idaho. This program takes dogs from the Humane Society, and places them with an inmate. The goal of the program is to prepare the dogs for adoption, as well as providing therapeutic opportunities for the participating inmates.
On Easter Sunday in 1986, convicted felon Claude Dallas escaped from ISCI. Some believe he accomplished this by walking out with a group of visitors, although this remains in dispute. The escape spurred an almost year-long manhunt that ended in suburban southern California.