Juvenile Corrections requests radio upgrades and $300,000 for substance-use treatment as youth mental-health concerns rise

The Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Feb. 18 that it is seeking one-time and ongoing funding to upgrade safety equipment and cover rising treatment costs while agency leaders described increased mental-health needs among youth in its care.

Budget analyst Noah Peterson told JFAC the department’s fiscal 2026 requests include a one-time $380,000 purchase from the Juvenile Corrections Endowment Income Fund to replace and program radios at the Lewiston, Nampa and St. Anthony juvenile correction centers, and an ongoing $300,000 general-fund request to cover increased costs for a residential substance-use treatment program.

The radio purchase would buy equipment with a “man down” function that, according to Peterson, alerts staff to the location of an employee who needs assistance and would bring all three facilities to the same level of capability.

Why it matters: agency leaders said mental-health needs and self-harm indicators have risen among youth in custody, and the state’s costs for residential substance-use treatment have more than doubled since fiscal 2021.

Peterson told the committee that the daily cost for residential treatment rose from about $198 per day in 2021 to $399 per day in August 2021, and that average lengths of stay increased from about 31 days to about 67 days over the same period. Peterson said the program’s total cost grew from about $1.26 million in FY2021 to about $2.7 million in FY2024. He said the Department of Health and Welfare used ARPA funds temporarily to offset some of the increases but is no longer able to do so, which is why IDJC requests the $300,000 ongoing appropriation.

Director Ashley Dowell, who joined the department recently, told committee members she is “very grateful” for the staff and county partners and said she is concerned by “the level of mental health we’re seeing in the youth,” citing increases in criminality, suicidal ideation and self-harming behavior. Dowell said the department is focused on diverting youth when appropriate and providing treatment and reintegration supports.

Committee members pressed for data on population and program trends. Peterson said he has the population data and will provide it to the committee; Dowell said the department’s census reached an all-time low of 137 youth in custody in May 2024 and that the population was 176 at the time of the hearing, an increase of about 19 percent from that low point.

Other fiscal items presented by Peterson included a $145,100 request from dedicated funds for replacement items, a net-zero $350,000 program transfer to move youth assessment center costs from administration to community operations, a requested shift of $675,100 from personnel to operating (tied to consolidating IT positions with the Office of Information Technology Services and a reduction of 7 FTP), and a $232,500 IT hardware replacement request recommended by OITS. Peterson said all of the Governor’s recommendations mirror those items.

Committee discussion also covered the recently implemented human-trafficking screening required by last session’s law; Dowell said the screening tool and training were implemented by January 2025 and adopted by state facilities for consistency.

On the substance-use treatment question, Dowell and other speakers said residential placement and length-of-stay decisions are made by community treatment providers using placement criteria such as the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) standards; Dowell said the department does not directly control those clinical decisions.

What comes next: analysts and the department agreed to provide follow-up data on daily census trends, the use and outcomes of youth crisis centers, and details on the program-length and cost drivers identified by the committee. Budget-setting was scheduled for the committee later in the week.