After staff shooting, Idaho corrections seeks surveillance upgrades, expanded transport unit and body‑worn camera pilot

The Idaho Department of Correction told the Joint Finance Preparations Committee on Feb. 4 that supplemental and ongoing budget requests aim to address vulnerabilities exposed by a spring ambush during an inmate medical transport that left three correctional staff wounded.

Noah Peterson, the legislative budget analyst, told the committee the state prisons division requested roughly $795,000 in supplemental funds to begin advanced surveillance technologies this fiscal year and $2.4 million ongoing to run the systems in a full year. The package the department described includes digital mail scanning, drone-detection hardware and phone-call transcription and analysis (described in the hearing as the LEO intelligence software). Peterson also said the agency sought a supplemental of $1.15 million to expand the transport bureau—12 full‑time positions and specialized vehicles—and a federal body‑worn…