BOISE -- The ripple effect of a down economy is hitting our prisons.
On Friday, the Idaho Department of Corrections announced they'll be eliminating 24 positions.
The announcement comes at a time when prison officials expect the inmate population to go up.
"The fact of the matter is that revenue is down," said Brent Reinke, the director of the Idaho Department of Corrections.
Reinke said to balance the state budget, these 24 positions must be eliminated.
The prison is faced with having to cut $3.1 million for its fiscal 2011 budget.
The cuts will come from the food service area, supervisors and a deputy chief position.
Reinke said the prison was careful not to layoff those who work directly with inmates or parolees.
"We need to be vary careful we stay true to our mission of community safety," said Reinke. "So we've gone to the middle management area within the department, and that's where we are making these cuts."
But what concerns many at the prison are the cuts made to programs that help inmates once they're released.
Those community-based programs help the mentally ill and treat others for substance abuse.
Reinke is afraid with cuts already made to those programs, the prison population could rise -- and the Department said the state's prisons are almost full right now.
"It puts people at risk and we're liable to see an increase in our population that will exceed the 4.3 percent we have projected," said Reinke.
But there are resources that could help.
"We have a 432-bed treatment facility opening July 1," Reinke said. "That's going to be a tremendous help for us."
The facility is the Correctional Alternative Placement Program (CAPP). According to lawmakers, the facility will help reduce recidivism and costly crime.
Lawmakers said CAPP will save taxpayers around $29,000 per offender.
Reinke serves on the Interagency Committee on Substance Abuse Prevention. He said the committee was mindful of the cuts to health and welfare during the legislative session.
He said the committee is now carefully monitoring the after-effect.
"We know working with state government, we're going to have our peaks and our valleys," Reinke said. "This happens to be a pretty serious valley."
Right now, there are 7,500 inmates in Idaho prisons. IDOC also supervises about 13,800 probationers and parolees.
The elimination of these 24 staff positions will bring the total number of positions cut over the past two years to 102.
