US Justice Department declines to press criminal charges in Idaho private prison scandal

BOISE, Idaho – The U.S. Justice Department has declined to press criminal charges in connection with a contract fraud investigation at a private Idaho prison.

The FBI began investigating the Idaho Correctional Center last year. The facility had been run by Corrections Corporation of America and was known for being so violent that inmates dubbed it “Gladiator School.”

U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson said Wednesday that the probe was complete, and the agency didn’t find probable cause to file charges.

The Idaho State Police Department was originally asked to investigate operations at the prison in 2013 after an Associated Press investigation showed the company was giving state officials falsified documents to cover up thousands of hours of understaffing.

The FBI took over after the probe failed to launch for more than a year. At the time, internal police documents showed the state law enforcement agency had a potential conflict of interest in the case.

Corrections Corporation of America had operated the prison south of Boise for more than a decade, but after the falsified staffing documents were uncovered, the Idaho Department of Correction hired an auditing firm to determine how many hours the prison was understaffed in violation of the company’s $29 million annual contract.

The auditing firm determined the Nashville, Tennessee-based private prison firm left more than 26,000 hours of mandatory guard posts understaffed or inadequately covered during 2012, though the company said those numbers were inflated.

Still, Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter reached a settlement agreement with the company in 2014 — long before any law enforcement investigation had been completed.

Under the settlement, Corrections Corporation of America agreed to pay the state of Idaho $1 million. In exchange, Idaho dropped any right to sue over staffing.