Medical & Mental Health in Idaho (Idaho DOC)
How health care works in Idaho prisons — the contracted medical and mental-health provider, requesting care, and the oversight process.
Health care in Idaho prisons
Idaho does not deliver prison health care with its own staff. Instead, IDOC contracts the service to a private medical company that provides medical and mental-health care across the state’s adult prisons.
The current contractor is Centurion, which took over the statewide prison health-care contract on October 1, 2021, replacing Corizon Health, the previous provider. The Centurion contract runs through September 30, 2026 and is up for rebid or renewal in 2026. Because contracts like this are re-bid and can change, treat the named provider as subject to change and confirm who currently holds the contract at the facility where the person is held.
How a resident requests care
Routine care begins at each prison’s on-site clinic, generally through a sick-call request submitted to the facility’s medical staff. The exact form, where to submit it, and any charge vary by facility and can change, so confirm the current process with the facility’s medical unit.
A co-pay may apply. Idaho does not publish a co-pay amount on its official pages, so confirm whether a charge applies, the amount, and any exemptions with the facility’s medical unit rather than relying on a figure from another source.
Mental and behavioral health
Mental-health care is part of the same contracted service that covers medical care. It ranges from clinic-based care at individual prisons to more specialized treatment.
The Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI) in Kuna operates a Secure Mental Health Facility for the Idaho Security Medical Program, the state’s program for residents with the most acute needs. Confirm current programs and where a particular person can be treated with the facility, because missions and placements change.
Families and medical information
Families generally cannot schedule appointments, obtain medical records, or direct treatment on a resident’s behalf without the resident’s authorization. A resident can authorize the release of medical information, and an urgent medical concern can be raised with the facility directly. Confirm the facility’s current process for medical questions and authorizations.
Oversight and concerns
A health or treatment concern that cannot be resolved with the facility’s medical staff can be raised through the department’s internal review process.
Idaho has no independent corrections ombudsman. The state does not require independent prison inspections, and the channel for conditions-of-confinement concerns — including health care — is the IDOC Office of Constituent Services. An independent corrections ombudsman has been proposed but not enacted. Confirm the current process and contact for raising a concern with the department, because procedures change.
Background: the Balla case
For context, prison medical and mental-health conditions in Idaho were the subject of a long-running federal lawsuit. The class-action case Balla v. Idaho, filed in 1981 over conditions of confinement at the Idaho State Correctional Institution, was closed by a federal judge in 2020 after roughly four decades of litigation. It is noted here as historical background, not current procedure.
Verify Before Acting
Sources
This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.