Oregon Public Broadcasting

Attorneys for Idaho prison inmates are deliberating whether to continue a three-decade-old lawsuit over living conditions at one state prison.

The inmate advocates still have questions that they say may be enough to justify a case that keeps pressure on the Idaho prison system. Doug Nadvornick has more.

In the early 1980s, several inmates at the Idaho State Correctional Institution near Boise sued.

They alleged overcrowding made their living conditions unsafe. A federal court combined their lawsuits into one and then required the state to alleviate the overcrowding.

Nearly 30 years later, federal judge Lynn Winmill says Idaho has made enough progress that it may be time to close part of that lawsuit. That's despite the fact that inmates rioted early last year after the state brought 300 new inmates to the facility.

An attorney for the inmates agrees the state has made progress on the overcrowding problem. But J. Walter Sinclair says Idaho still has work to do in areas like inmate medical care.

J. Walter Sinclair: "The state is not, in our opinion, able to provide the Constitutional rights that inmates are entitled to."

State corrections officials say they've worked hard to improve inmate living conditions, despite recent budget cuts.