CCA warden says he didn’t know about understaffing
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – A former warden for private prison giant Corrections Corporation of America says he didn’t know that mandatory posts at the Idaho prison he led were chronically unstaffed.
Tim Wengler, the former warden at the CCA-run Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise, told U.S. District Judge David Carter on Wednesday that in his three years on the job, he never noticed that some mandatory security posts went unstaffed.
Wengler’s testimony came as part of a contempt-of-court hearing over whether CCA is abiding by the terms of a settlement it reached with Idaho inmates two years ago.
The inmates, represented by the ACLU sued in 2010, contended the prison was so violent that prisoners call it “Gladiator School.” CCA denied the allegations but reached a deal requiring increased staffing.
