Idaho juvenile corrections requests new funding as officials report rising mental‑health needs and longer residential stays

The Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Feb. 18 that it is seeing increased mental‑health needs and higher costs for residential substance‑use treatment, and asked the committee to consider several budget enhancements to respond.

Noah Peterson, budget policy analyst for the legislative budget office, summarized the department’s budget and enhancement requests and identified several specific items the agency is seeking. Peterson said the department requests a $380,000 one‑time radio upgrade from the Juvenile Corrections Endowment Income Fund to provide “man down” functionality and programming across the three state juvenile correction centers in Lewiston, Nampa and St. Anthony. He also described a $300,000 ongoing general fund request to cover increased costs for an existing residential substance‑use disorder (SUD) treatment program.

The SUD request responds to a rise in daily residential treatment costs and longer lengths of stay, Peterson said. He told the committee the treatment per‑day cost rose from about $198 in 2021 to $399 in August 2021, and the average length of stay increased from about 31 days to 67 days, which changed the program cost from roughly $1.26 million in fiscal 2021 to about $2.7 million in fiscal 2024. Peterson said the Department of Health and Welfare had provided short‑term ARPA funding to offset some of that increase but is no longer able to continue doing so, prompting the IDJC request to replace that support with ongoing general‑fund dollars.

Ashley Dowell, director of the Department of Juvenile Corrections, told the committee she is “concerned about just the level of mental health we’re seeing in the youth with our facilities,” noting increases in suicidal ideation and self‑harm. Dowell said the department is working with county partners and the Department of Health and Welfare on complex cases and on diversion efforts that keep most youth supervised in the community rather than in state custody. “About 95 percent of kids stay on probation,” she said, and described the department’s work with reintegration and community partners.

Members asked for more data. Representative Tanner and others requested population and utilization numbers; Noah Peterson said those data exist and can be provided to the committee. Director Dowell said the department’s custody census had reached an all‑time low of 137 youth in May 2024 and was at 176 at the time of the hearing — about a 19 percent increase from that low.

Committee members also pressed about whether residential treatment providers’ decisions about length of stay could be reviewed. Dowell said placement and length‑of‑stay determinations are made by community treatment providers using American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) placement criteria, and that the department does not currently have licensing or utilization management authority to perform insurer‑style reviews of those placements.

Other budget items presented included a $145,100 request for replacement items from dedicated funds, a request to shift $675,100 in personnel cost to operating expenditures while reducing seven FTP positions by consolidating IT positions with the state Office of Information Technology Services (a net zero budget shift), and a $232,500 request for IT replacement items recommended by OITS. Peterson also noted a previous supplemental and reappropriation pattern in recent years that produced spikes in appropriations for youth assessment centers, reception and crisis centers.

Director Dowell described the department’s continued emphasis on diversion and crisis centers, and said the department adopted state screening for human trafficking after the legislature passed a bill requiring screening; she said the county partners implemented the screening and the department mirrored that screening in its facilities for consistency. She also said the department’s diversion subcommittee through the Idaho Behavioral Health Council is examining whether a statutory minimum age for detention is appropriate; under current law, she said, there is no minimum detention age, but IDJC may not incarcerate a child under age 10 in its facilities.

The department did not seek immediate committee action; the requests were presented as enhancement requests to be considered in budget deliberations. Committee members asked staff to provide additional data, including facility population trends and information on youth crisis center diversions and treatment placement costs.