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Training Keeps Prisoners and
Officers Safe
As a criminal justice college student in 1972, Dan Mahoney had one goal: to be a police officer. Fresh from a stint in the Marine Corps, he first needed a job to help make ends meet. Hearing you could work at the prison and still have time to study on your morning shift, he applied as a correctional officer at the Old Idaho Penitentiary on Warm Springs Avenue.
Thirty years later he retired from the Idaho Department of Correction as deputy warden. In between he witnessed a dramatic shift in how officers were hired and trained and in the ideology of the institution itself.
“We’ve really grown from the ’70s until now,” he said. “In the ’70s we were in the ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key’ mode.” Policy, he recalled, was vague, new employee training very limited and in-service training almost nonexistent.
Of the 26 new hires in 1972, Mahoney said only three or four were still there two years later. “I don’t think they realized how that (lack of training) was affecting turnover,” he said. To make thing worse, pay fell below that in street law enforcement and other state's correctional agencies.
Mahoney’s hire date coincided with work on a new facility south of town. Constructed in the late 1800s, the Old Pen was quickly reaching the end of its usefulness. But until the new facility was finished, Mahoney’s job was to help keep order in an environment still buzzing from a riot in 1971.
In March 1973, less than a year after Mahoney signed on, a major riot broke out and the dining hall and chapel were gutted by fire. He was part of a newly formed emergency response team that aided in stopping the riot and getting the facility back under control. Many local law enforcement agencies helped with perimeter control.
In the wake of that riot, efforts to finish the new facility were increased and its doors opened ahead of schedule in 1973. By December of that year, the last remaining prisoners were transferred from the Old Pen to the new facility.
Mahoney recalls that time as one of turmoil and transition at the new facility. The locking system had a number of bugs, and officers couldn’t lock the cells that first night. “We had a mix of maximum and medium security inmates, and we just told them to stay in their cells after the count cleared.” Mahoney recalls.
Although that locking system was soon fixed, some basic design elements caused longer-lasting problems. Assigned to the maximum security area, Mahoney stated that the unit housing segregation inmates was open bar cell construction. The open bars meant inmates upset with dinner could throw the tray back at you. He also recalls inmates urinating in a cup and throwing it at the correctional officers in what was referred to as a “golden shower.” Inmates would occasionally smuggle in matches. They would then wrap toilet paper around the bars and light the paper on fire while attempting to grab the correctional officers through the ensuing smoke and chaos.
Today’s maximum security prison, IMSI, has cells with solid doors and a much improved procedure for handling segregation inmates (including death row) and close custody inmates.
In July of 1980 a major riot broke out, resulting in two officers being taken hostage and more than $2 million dollars in property damage. One hostage was released through a negotiation process. When negotiations broke down, Mahoney lead a facility SWAT team, supported by an Ada County Sheriff’s SWAT team, to rescue the second hostage and help regain control of the facility.
Following the 1980 riot Mahoney, now assigned to training, was part of a team that put together a training academy for new employees under the direction of new director Al Murphy. The academy and improved in-service training began a process of raising the level of the corrections profession for Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC).
Since the 1980 riot, Mahoney believes the IDOC has developed into one of the best correctional systems in the country. Improvements in training, consistent policies, proactive inmate management, improved new employee screening, enhanced inmate programming and more support from the legislature have lead to a safe and secure prison environment.
Mahoney said improvements in inmate programming also help to keep a correctional environment safe. “If inmates are involved in quality programming, they’re more engaged, leading to a safer environment,” he said. Mahoney also believes that continuing to seek improved programming will help reduce the number of inmates returning to prison.
Because officers carry no guns, they rely on a pro-active approach to inmate management by being engaged with the population and identifying and taking quick action as problems arise. This team approach to managing inmates takes the effort of correctional officers, medical staff, programming staff, food services staff and support staff working together to provide security and a focus on good programming. “I am extremely proud of the job the Department of Correction is doing and the staff that work day in and day out in direct contact with the inmate population,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney feels that one of the most immediate challenges for the Department of Correction is the increasing inmate population. “The population is going to continue to increase and we need to put them some place,” he said. “The challenge is not going to go away any time soon.”
Retired since September 2002, Mahoney owns and operates a wedding and event photography business.
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