Idaho prison system calls for strengthened sexual abuse law in response to reporting

Editor’s note: “Guarded by Predators” is an investigative series exposing rape and abuse by Idaho’s prison guards and the system that shields them. Find the entire series at investigatewest.org/guarded-by-predators.

BOISE (InvestigateWest) — For the first time since InvestigateWest exposed widespread sexual abuse by Idaho prison staff, the director of Idaho’s prison system laid out plans to increase protection for inmates and accountability for those accused.

Those plans include the Department of Correction working with lawmakers to change a state law that makes it difficult for prosecutors to criminally charge prison workers who take advantage of inmates. Department of Correction Director Bree Derrick also said the department will review its public records process, implement ways to ens