Gang leaders in prison continue calling shots

The problems inside the prison can impact the community outside the fence.  The Idaho Department of Correction says some incarcerated gang members are still finding ways to call the shots on the outside and most will eventually be released.

"Most of the street gangs are actually controlled by their leaders that are inside the prison system," Deputy Warden Tim Higgins said.

Idaho's prisons do have different programs and ways to try and deter gang activity and stop gang leaders from the inside.  With some inmates, those programs work, but it's impossible to stop all of the activity.

20 percent of inmates are gang members

Every male convict in Idaho comes through the Reception and Diagnostic Unit, or RDU, at the medium-security prison in Kuna.  It's where the IDOC decides where someone will serve their time and who they'll be placed with.  The decision depends on a number of different factors, including gang involvement.

The IDOC says 20 percent of prisoners are also gang members, who are responsible for the majority of assaults against other inmates and staff.

"From our standpoint, it's about 20 percent of our population that presents about 80 percent of our problem," IDOC Director Brent Reinke said.

Idaho's decision to integrate gang members

To combat the gang problem, Reinke explains Idaho uses an uncommon philosophy: Integrate the gang members.  Gang members are housed with other non-gang affiliated inmates and can be placed in the same units as rivals.  Prison officials say integration breaks up the power a gang might have by housing members of the same gang together.

"We believe that's a very important element in keeping our facilities safe. These people are going to be living together on the streets. They can live together behind the fence," Reinke said.

"If you intermix opposing gang population, you always run the risk that they're going to fight," Higgins said.  "But if you separate them out into Sureno units, Norteno units, and this and that, they become so powerful that we lose control of those units." [Then] it's not our staff that tell the inmates what they're going to do and how they're going to do it, it is that gang leader that decides whether that gang is going to comply or not comply.  So you lose power. You lose control."

Inside maximum security prison

If prisoners prove they can't or won't live together, they may be brought to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.  They live isolated, outside only an hour a day.  Even outside, they are in individual cells, enclosed by metal fencing.  The other 23 hours a day, including meal times, are spent inside a small cell.  They are escorted in restraints if they need to go anywhere.

Even with all of the precautions, there are still gang problems inside the maximum security prison.

"How do we deal with it? We have absolutely zero tolerance for gang behavior," Higgins said.

Higgins, a recognized gang expert, says they prosecute gang members for the same crimes inside prison as they would outside, gathering evidence just like any other law enforcement team.

"We track very carefully all evidence we have of somebody's gang involvement," Higgins said.

Inmates make weapons, send gang messages from inside

At IMSI, there is an evidence room filled with envelopes of gang evidence.  Officers collect stabbing and slashing tools, called "shanks".  Inmates find ways to make shanks out of everything from eyeglasses to toothbrushes to pieces of the beds.  They conceal them and will use the tools against others.

"They'll stab somebody as many times as they possibly can," Higgins said.

Officers also confiscate anything that has gang references, like elaborate artwork, to stop members from representing affiliation or passing messages.

Inmates also have developed a communication system while in isolated cells.  They write messages on pieces of paper, roll them up, and tie a string or piece of bed sheet to the small scrolls called 'kites'.  Inmates will throw the kite under their door, where another inmate will hook it and pull the message in.  Officers work to stop the communication, sometimes blocking the space under their cell doors.

Some inmates join gangs while in prison

So despite efforts to stop gang activity inside prison, it still happens, and many inmates even join gangs while in prison.  Some gangs, such as the Aryan Knights and Severly Violent Criminals, originated or developed in Idaho's prison system.

"If you take a kid who's kind of fantasizing about becoming a gang member, and you expose him inside of a prison system to a hard core thug, what you get coming out the other side is a hard core gang member," Higgins said.

A former prison gang member we're calling "Tyler" says many people join gangs in prison for protection, and once in a gang, prison can be almost like a gang bootcamp.

"You ain't got nothing else to do, you know what I'm saying?  Sitting around in your cell all day, all you're doing is plotting on how to become a better leader, how to become a better gang member. Be more violent," Tyler said.
 
Some experts call this concept "warehousing".  It's like storing the gang members in prison, where they're essentially training, then releasing them back into the community.

Most inmates will eventually be released

"You need to remember that about 97 percent of these folks come back home at some point in their lifetime," Reinke said.

Higgins said many gang members will do something on the outside to end up right back in prison again.

"The typical life of a gang member is in and out of the prisons," Higgins said.

It's a cycle that experts and ex-gang members say has to be broken earlier, not in prison.

"It's something we have to look at city by city, neighborhood by neighborhood because by the time they make their way into prison, it's very deeply embedded," Reinke said.

Prosecutor: Supression is only one step toward stopping gangs

Prosecutors say they often see the same people cycling in and out of courtrooms, in and out of prison.  While supression is working to a degree, they say intervention and prevention need to be part of the process.

"When people come out of prison, often they have even more gang experience and they're more savvy in the ways of the gang than when they started, so when they get out they can be that much more dangerous to the community if they go right back where they came from," Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Ellie Somoza said.

"In order to go forward and prevent gang crime from really taking a hold again, at least in Canyon County, and to prevent it from further spreading in Ada County and other parts of the state, I think resources need to be devoted toward education, toward training, toward intervention, towards transition," Somoza said. 

Somoza says when gang members are released, they're often going back to the community where they were committing crimes, where their old gang and rivals still live.

"So one of the concerns always is even if you've changed your life, even if you've done something, wanted to make a change to turn your life around, all those people will still drag you back in," Somoza said.  "A rival can still spot you on the sidewalk and decide to pull a gun on you.  And so what's really missing is the ability to relocate, to reeducate, to provide them will services that will really get them moving in a different direction."

To see more about how other states deal with their prison populations, and how that impacts Idaho's gangs, watch the KTVB.COM exclusive video below.

Prevention and Intervention:

Boys and Girls Club

OG's Bad Nampa

Victory Outreach

Caldwell Police PAL

Boise Police Activities League

G.R.E.A.T. Prevention Program

2nd Chance Grace

Haylee plans to finish those last credits over the summer and get her diploma this fall. All she wants, is to go to the graduation ceremony and walk across the stage with her peers. The school district doesn't want to make an exception.

Haylee Winters was 14 years old when she got the bad news.

"She has an optical glaucoma and it was so big that it killed some of the optical nerve and caused some blindness in her left eye," said Jackee Winter, Haylee's mom.

Haylee had an inoperable, plum-sized tumor in her brain. She chose to treat it with chemotherapy.

"She happens to be a small percentage of people that get deathly ill and needed to be hospitalized for about a week every month for a year," said Jackee.

The chemo shrunk the tumor but also made classwork hard for Haylee.

"She's got the condition that they call chemo brain," said Jackee.

The American Cancer Society says chemo brain effects people ability to remember things, stay organized, and keep focused--things that are critical for a high schooler.

Jackee says Haylee worked hard to pass her classes, but she is still four credit hours shy of Timberline's graduation requirements. All she wants to do is walk in the ceremony, but the Boise School District says that's not an option.

"We notified the family back on February first, to be exact, of a plan that they could put into place to make sure that she was able to graduate on time," said Dan Hollar, spokesperson for the Boise School District.

He says they worked with administration at Timberline to create a reasonable plan for Haylee to graduate.

"We've got 25,000 students in the district, the majority of whom meet the requirements and are able to participate in commencement exercises. She was told early in the year what the steps are that need to be taken," Hollar said.

Hollar says most students who walk without finishing their coursework never end up completing it.
He says the district doesn't want to set a new standard for other students.

"There's a precedent there too. I mean, can you understand our concern about if we open the door this way, what happens in the future?," asked Hollar.

"This will change her life if she's not able to walk with her class," said her mom.

Jackee says Haylee wasn't feeling well enough to talk with us. She wrote us a letter: "The staff has seen all the tears and hard work that I have put into my schooling but obviously not to them it has not been enough for them to allow me to participate in the graduation ceremony with my peers."

Graduation is May 30.

"She just wants to be a part of whats going on and be included. She's worked really hard to get where she's at, and they oughta recognize that this child deserves this," Jackee said.


 

Police located six of those bikes locked together to a bike rack on the BSU campus around noon after they got a tip from a citizen that the bikes looked like the ones they saw in the pictures. Around 2 p.m., police on scene say they found the rest of them as well as some they didn't know were missing.

Police say the bikes were found scattered around campus in three seperate places. Seven were located near Taco Bell Arena and another three by the student rec center. They are continuing to investigate.

Police believe the TIBCO bikes were stolen between 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday. The victims told police the thief, or thieves, cut a lock on the trailer to take the bikes inside.

It was not the kind of welcome a team of bike riders from California was hoping for when they came to Idaho.

Some of the racers had their bikes with them up in their hotel rooms, but half of the team had them in the trailer. The bikes are more aerodynamic and specifically designed to help racers go fast. The team is supposed to ride on those bikes Thursday night and at the individual time trials in Kuna.

The TIBCO bicycles are all specialized X-work bikes with Reynolds wheels. The road bikes are red and white, eight of those were stolen. The time trial bikes are a greyish black, and six of those were taken. The bikes are each worth about $9,000.

If you have any information on who may have taken these bikes or where they are please call Crime Stoppers at 343-COPS.  Police are offering a reward up to $1,000 for information about this case.

The person, or people, responsible for the theft could face multiple felony charges when they are identified.

The Exergy Tour is a five-day international women's professional bike race that will wind through several communities in southwest Idaho.

The race starts Thursday, but you're invited to meet the racers tonight in Boise.

The team presentation is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Grove Plaza as part of a celebration of the race and the upcoming Summer Olympics in London.

BOISE -- Fire crews near the southern Idaho town of Hammett say they're getting a handle on a grassfire that has scorched an estimated 850 acres of private and public land. The Bureau of Land Management sent several engines, a bulldozer and a water tender to the scene. No homes were damaged, but one outbuilding, was destroyed.

Nick Yturri with the Boise District BLM says the winds made it difficult for firefighters to put out the fire earlier.  He says fire crews will remain on the scene till tomorrow morning to mop up, and make sure embers don't spark another fire.

He credits the fast response of BLM fire crews and the King Hill Rural Fire Department for stopping the fire before it could spread to a dozen homes about a quarter mile away.  Yturri says fire investigator are now looking into what caused the fire.  So far they know it started near the I-84 by milepost 109. Yturri says crews expect to have full containment by 8 o'clock tonight.

Kristin McGrath often gets mistaken for Boise rider Kristin Armstrong. 

The two have similar features, blonde hair, and are both fierce competitors on the race course.  Which is why McGrath asked Armstrong to coach her two years ago and moved to Boise last year to train with the gold medalist.

But that isn't the only thing McGrath feels fortunate about.  Two years ago, she was a rising star with wins under her belt and likely more to come.  But that came to a crashing halt on a cold morning back in 2010.

"I left my house on a training ride, came to a four way stop, stopped, looked all ways, saw a car, a truck actually, coming down the road but assumed that person would stop at the stop sign and proceeded into the intersection," said McGrath.

But the truck didn't stop. McGrath was struck and thrown thirty feet.  The outcome of the terrible accident was a broken femur, a double compound fracture, and blood loss. 

"It was a really scary experience. It was the scariest thing that every happened to me," said McGrath.

She survived the accident, but what of her career as a professional cyclist.  After such a traumatic accident, coming back would not be easy.

It was the words of her little brother on the morning of the accident that made her determined to get back on the bike. 

"I remember right before they kinda like really knocked me out with a lot of medication in the ambulance I asked him, 'Is my career over, Nate?" And he said, 'Only if you want it to be.' So I was like, okay.."

After months of rehab, and the support of family, friends, and her coach,  McGrath has once again reached the pinnacle of professional cycling.

She is on the short list to make the US Olympic team to compete in London, a dream that has kept her going, against some pretty long odds.

"It's really hard to give up on Olympic dreams. You know, I kinda feel like I was given a second chance so I've gotta take it and run with it," said McGrath. " I'm not really one to sit around and be like 'poor me. I got hit by a car.' It is what it is. I got a second chance, and I gotta take it."
 

The cuts announced Wednesday represent the HP's largest payroll purge in its 73-year history. The reductions will affect about 8 percent of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s nearly 350,000 employees by the time the overhaul is completed in October 2014.

HP hopes to avoid as many layoffs by offering early retirement packages.

The company, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., expects to save as much as $3.5 billion annually from the job cuts and other austerity measures.

News of the cutbacks overshadowed the release of HP's latest quarterly results. The company's earnings and revenue were both better than analysts projected.

That's where about 2,000 souls are buried six-feet under.  It's a place called the Idaho City Pioneer Cemetery.

Cemetery caretaker Trudy Jackson works with the Idaho City Historical Foundation. Jackson says while thousands of pioneers are buried here, only about 300 headstones are scattered among the pines and bushes that dot the landscape.

According to Jackson, that's because many of the early settlers were too poor to afford gravestones. Jackson also explains that only the most wealthy of Idaho City's early pioneers were able to afford the beautifully carved, custom stones and iron gates the cemetery is famous for.

Those included the town's Catholic families, and Free Mason members.

Jackson says many working Chinese laborers and other ethnic minorities were forced into unmarked graves without any of the rich decoration you can find in other plots.

"What we've found is that you can actually order some of these gates from the companies that made them 100 years ago," Jackson told KTVB.

Jackson should know because one of her many goals is to keep the cemetery historically accurate. To do so, she's been working with volunteers to restore many of the location's crumbling headstones and plots.

However, she's also got one factor going against her.

"There's been a lot of vandalism over the years," Jackson adds, saying that often she gets phone calls from various people in Boise who find headstones in garages, as well as parts of old iron gates swiped from the cemetery by thieves.

Jackson says keeping vandalism down is obviously a top priority in restoring this historic place.

To prevent the theft, the historical foundation is even considering installing cameras in the future.

However, the foundation's immediate goals are to publicize and conserve the unique graves here, in order to keep the memory of those who have passed alive.

Hoku said in a statement Tuesday Hoku Materials needs to lay people off to save cash while it pursues restructuring alternatives.

The Pocatello plant was to have made silicon for solar panels. All contractors stopped construction work at the facility last month.

Hoku says some lienholders have started foreclosure proceedings against the plant in Idaho courts.

In January, the Nasdaq Stock Market warned it may delist Hoku because its stock was trading below $1 a share. The company has until July 10 to maintain a minimum bid closing price of at least $1 for 10 straight business days.

On Tuesday, Hoku shares closed down 3 cents at 20 cents.

Julia Uberuaga, known as 'Jules' to her friends, is a heavy equipment operator and works in support of the scientific projects at the South Pole.

Dee caught up with Jules at her Garden Valley home to find out how a girl from rural Idaho ended up being a female pioneer in Antarctica some 30 years ago.

We also have included an uncut version of Dee's entire interview with Jules.

The man's name and condition weren't released following the incident on Tuesday at the Buhl airport in southern Idaho.

The Twin Falls Times News reports the plane tilted back and forth before stalling and plunging to the grass near the airport's landing strip.

Michelle Jones, a nurse who saw the plane crash, raced to the airport to help, only to find the pilot slumping out of the cockpit's door.

She helped stabilize him until paramedics arrived.

She said he suffered a head injury and possibly a broken foot.

Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators are expected soon in Buhl to examine the crash.

That’s more than a year and she hasn’t been home since.

In September, Portland’s Randall Children’s Hospital became her home for treatment she couldn’t get in Idaho.

The 17-year-old has endured dozens of surgeries and 51 days of intense physical therapy. She’s also been going to school while in the hospital and getting speech therapy along with acupuncture.

“When I first came here, my trauma surgeon said it might be six months before I could get my first surgery and now after six months I’m going home,” said a smiling Jessica.

Her Mom has lived the past several months at the Ronald McDonald House.

“Jessica has always been a fighter. What strength I haven’t had to get through this, I’ve been able to get from her,” remarked Heidi Rice.

Her physical therapist has seen that fighting spirit.

“She’s exceeded all of our expectations,” said Nicole Canale. “She’s only able to move her shoulders and part of her elbow. She has a little bit of extension in her wrist. Other than that she has no movement.”

Jessica refused to give in to those limitations and focused instead on her ambitious goals.

“My goal was to become as independent as I can, learn how to drive my chair, brush my teeth, feed myself,” explained Jessica.

Her next goal is to surprise high school classmates at what would have been her high school graduation in Meridian, Idaho.

She plans to finish high school by February and then go to college.

“This has been an amazing journey but I can’t wait to see what Jessica is going to do next,” said her proud therapist, “This girl is going places.”

For now, Jessica is just happy to be going home to Idaho on Wednesday exactly 417 days after her accident.

The dead adult grizzly was discovered last Friday morning by a hiker on Hall Mountain in Boundary County, northwest of US Highway 95. A search of the area turned up the dead cub.

Both bears appeared to have been dead for several days.

Agents for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are investigating. The carcasses will be flown to a federal laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, for necropsy and retrieval of evidence.

Grizzly bears are a threatened species in the lower 48 states and killing one carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

"Even if the gang members are targeting rival gang members, a shooting on the boulevard In broad daylight, you're still going to possibly hit an innocent house, an innocent car, or an innocent person walking on the sidewalk," Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Ellie Somoza said. "'I've also seen lots of cases where they've done a driveby on a house, where they have the wrong house."

Specialized police units work to track gangs

Back in the 1990s, police and prosecutors in our area watched what was going on around the country with gangs.  In California, gangs were literally claiming parts of cities.  Some agencies began specializing in gang enforcement to get ahead of the problem.  In 1994, the Boise Police Department created the first specialized gang unit in the state.

"We have approximately 450 gang members documented in our department," a BPD Gang Intelligence Detective said (KTVB is not identifying the detective because of his job duties). "It's steadily increasing, and it's tough to keep up."

Other agencies, like the Caldwell Police Department have units that deal with gang crimes.  Various local and federal agencies also work on operations through the Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crimes Task Force.

KTVB goes with BPD gang unit on patrol

The BPD detective allowed KTVB on a ride-along as he patrolled on a Friday night, looking for gang activity.

"There's little pockets all over the city," the detective said.
 
On a traffic stop, the detective found a man who'd been involved in gang activity before.  The detective got his contact information and took photos of his tattoos.  Tattoos can often give details about someone's gang affiliation and activities.

On another traffic stop downtown, the detective found two men who'd recently been in prison and have tattoos possibly related to prison gang activity.  During a search, he found a marijuana pipe in their car, which would be a parole violation for one of the men and would be reported.

BPD Gang Unit: Violent gang crime is on the rise

The detective said the gang unit's intelligence, enforcement, and presence have helped manage Boise gang activity.  But lately, there's been a disturbing increase in the city.  In April, there was a downtown shooting near City Hall.  Last week, the gang unit arrested several people during an investigation, charging several with gang crimes.  This year, there have also been home invasions with suspects who appear to have gang ties.

"As of recently, we've been seeing a lot of violent activity between gang members.  Some is spill-over from other counties, and some homegrown right here in Boise," the detective said. 

Prosecutor: Canyon County gang crimes down, but increasing again
  
Canyon County is also seeing changes.  Not long ago, drive-by shootings, stabbings and other violent gang crimes were rampant.

"It was a lot of violence for such a small population and such a small area," Somoza said.        

Somoza works in the drugs and gangs unit and says since 2008, things had been calming down, but her gang caseload is picking up again.

"There's been a lot more going on recently," Somoza said.

New gang laws stick gang members with bigger penalties

Somoza's biggest tool is obviously the law, and she says new, stricter laws are still keeping the gang problem more reigned in than just five or six years ago.

"They know that if they commit a crime, and they're committing a crime as a gang member, that they're going to get hit extra hard," Somoza said.

In 2006, the Idaho Criminal Gang Enforcement Act was signed into law.  It tacked on more prison time for crimes committed by gang members.  It made supplying guns to gang members a crime, and it made recruiting new members illegal.

"The gang recruitment law we've used to wipe out the hierarchy of a couple of local gangs, and you saw a huge drop off in the violent crimes around that time," Somoza said.

One of Somoza's cases involved gang leader Mona Manzaneres.  She was the first person in Idaho prosecuted and convicted for recruitment. 

Gang members on new laws and Idaho's reputation

Gang members know prosecutors are using these laws, and they can act as deterrents.  A former Blood gang member says Idaho is strict, and he left his gang only after facing a possible life sentence in prison.

"Sooner or later, you're going to get caught," the ex-gangmember said.  "It's not the same anymore. You can't do the same things nowadays as you could then without getting caught."

Police, Prosecutors say they need to be proactive
      
Treasure Valley police and prosecutors say the task forces, specialized prosecution units and new laws have helped them, but statewide, this problem isn't getting smaller

"The problem has spread out from Canyon County.  Every part of the state, literally every corner of the state now has a gang problem," Somoza said.

Local departments say they need to deal with the gang problem on the front end and not wait until the gang members increase to an uncontrollable amount or their crimes get too out of hand.

"The main thing is just being proactive, you know, staying in front of some of the crimes and getting in the middle of some of our groups, our gangs before they really get out of control and then all you're doing is playing catch up at that point," the BPD detective said.

The community tie between drugs and gangs

Police say violent gang activity is on the rise, but the most prevalent crimes involve drugs whether that's usage, dealing or trafficking.  Watch the KTVB.COM exclusive video below to learn more about the tie between drugs and gangs.

Many gang members are going to prison, but most will be released back into the community.  On Wednesday night at 10:00 p.m., KTVB will go inside the prison to find out how they deal with gang members there and what happens when they're released back to our neighborhoods. 

"It's not real common for there to be an infestation like this," said Dave Fotsch of the Central District Health Department.

A letter went home to parents on Monday saying in order to prevent the further spread of head lice, the school will be closed Tuesday to allow for a thorough cleaning of the school and provide time for parents and staff to check for head lice and get treatment, if necessary.

Parents are urged to check their children for head lice.

"You pretty much have to have head-to-head contact or share a bed or a hat, or something with someone else who has head lice," said Fotsch.

The insects don't jump or fly. They crawl from one person to another, but you can't get them from your pets.

One Kuna mother did not hear about the lice outbreak until we asked her about it.

"I just had no idea that so many kids were affected and it had shut the school down," said Karen Minnick.

Principal Greta Ankeny wrote in the letter to parents that in order for school to resume on Wednesday they must stop the spread of head lice right away.  She says there is no need to panic and that the school is taking preventative steps to reduce the spread of head lice.

Students sent home with head lice will get a thorough head check upon their return to school.

As per the letter to parents:
 
According to the Centers for Disease Control, a diagnosis of head lice means that crawling lice or head lice eggs (also known as nits) attached to the hair were found. Head lice are small, wingless insects about the size of a sesame seed. They only live on the human scalp (not on family pets) and feed by sucking blood. Head lice range in color and can be white, gray, brown or red.

We tried to contact the school district today for a comment, but they directed us to the website.

The Kuna School District website says the school will re-open on Wednesday.

Click on the the CDHD website for more information regarding head lice

In her ruling late last week, U.S. Magistrate Candy Dale concluded that Matthew Hutcheson adequately documented his inability to pay for his legal counsel, based on his representations of his financial situation at a hearing.

Hutcheson has pleaded not guilty to 31 criminal counts, including allegations he bilked retirement funds of $5 million to fund his failed effort to buy Tamarack and to remodel his house.

Dale wrote in her order that Hutcheson's financial situation may change.

If that happens, Dale wrote, she may order him to reimburse at least some of his defense costs.