South Boise Women's Correctional Center

A women's treatment and transition prison in the South Boise complex in Kuna, focused on Idaho's retained-jurisdiction ('rider') program.

Overview

South Boise Women’s Correctional Center (SBWCC), on Pleasant Valley Road in Kuna, is one of several Idaho Department of Correction prisons clustered in the South Boise complex in Ada County. It opened in March 2002 and holds women.

The facility is a treatment and transition prison. Its central mission is Idaho’s retained-jurisdiction program, commonly called the “rider” program — a court-ordered period of intensive cognitive and behavioral treatment and education. Under retained jurisdiction, a sentencing court places a person in a programming and evaluation period and then decides whether to grant probation or continue incarceration. SBWCC is the facility for women in this program; the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood serves the same role for men.

What Makes South Boise Women’s Correctional Center Different

• It is focused on the rider program. The facility’s mission is the retained-jurisdiction (“rider”) program for women — a defined period of treatment and education a court uses to decide probation versus continued incarceration.
• It is not the women’s reception center. Women entering the Idaho prison system are processed at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center, which operates the statewide women’s Reception and Diagnostic Center. SBWCC is a treatment and transition facility, not an intake point.
• It is in the South Boise complex. The prison is one of several Idaho DOC facilities on Pleasant Valley Road in Kuna. A resident searched on the Idaho locator may be at any of these, so confirming the specific facility matters.

Visiting

The statewide Idaho rules — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID requirements, and item limits — apply at South Boise Women’s Correctional Center. Visiting is arranged with the facility, and an approved visiting application is required before a visit. Idaho processes visiting applications after a resident is classified, and approval normally takes a few weeks. There is no statewide online scheduler for in-person visits at Idaho’s in-state prisons; confirm days and hours with the institution.

The full approval process is in Visiting in Idaho.

Mail

Idaho does not use an off-site mail vendor. Incoming personal mail goes directly to the facility, where staff inspect it before delivery. Address personal mail with the resident’s committed name and IDOC number, the facility name, and the mailing address:

[Resident’s full name and IDOC number] South Boise Women’s Correctional Center PO Box 51 Boise, ID 83707

This PO Box also receives mail for another facility in the complex, so including the resident’s name, IDOC number, and the facility name helps it route correctly. Full rules on what can and cannot be sent are in Mail & Packages.

Communicating

Phone calls run through ICSolutions, and residents use ViaPath tablets for tablet-based services. Details on setting up accounts and call costs are in Phone & Video Calls, and how to add funds is in Sending Money.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at an Idaho prison:

• Visiting in Idaho — approval process, dress code, scheduling
• Mail & Packages — what you can send and what gets rejected
• Phone & Video Calls — accounts, call costs, video visits
• Sending Money — how to add funds to a resident’s account
• Medical & Mental Health — health care in Idaho prisons
• Transfers — what happens during transfers