Idaho to send inmates to private, out-of-state prison | HeraldNet.com - Northwest

Idaho to send inmates to private, out-of-state prison | HeraldNet.com - Northwest
BOISE, Idaho -- State prison officials plan to house hundreds of inmates at a privately run lockup in Colorado to avoid overcrowding at home.

The Idaho Department of Correction expects to finalize a contract in early July with Corrections Corporation of America to house inmates at the prison company's Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, Colo.

Idaho plans to send 250 males inmates to the out-of-state facility in late July or early August. That number is expected to reach 450 a year from now if Idaho's prison population continues to grow at its current rate.

The state's prisons are at capacity with 8,100 inmates, with some being housed in county jails. Prison officials have previously sent inmates out-of-state, but problems in Texas, as well as slowing inmate numbers in Idaho, prompted their return.