BOISE, Idaho — Bree Derrick is now at the helm of Idaho’s prison system, stepping into a key leadership role as the department navigates operational changes and policy shifts.
In her first one-on-one interview since being named director of the Idaho Department of Correction, Derrick spoke exclusively with Idaho News 6 about her background, vision for the agency, and what’s ahead for the state’s prison network.
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A veteran of corrections work across the country, Derrick brings decades of experience to the job and a focus on both accountability and rehabilitation.
“So I started my career in corrections over 20 years ago in the Rhode Island Department of Corrections,” Derrick said.
She has worked across the country, spending more than six years consulting state prison systems from New Hampshire to Hawaii, learning what works and what doesn’t.
Her philosophy: real public safety begins with behavior change.
“I think for most correctional departments, the real goal is public safety. And the way we get that is [through] behavior change. And how do we do that? Those tools are really accountability and rehabilitation. We've got to have both of those things at all times,” she said.
Derrick says Idaho has taken a different approach, prioritizing staff retention and encouraging officers to lead with respect.
“They approach the work with humanity first and foremost. That's really key for us,” she said.
“We're one of the only states who've kind of solved the correctional officer staffing crisis. We were down nearly 300 positions about two years ago. [Now], we have had lower than a 5% vacancy rate for almost 18 months.”
As director, Derrick says she wants to invest even more in employees and shift the culture from survival to one that’s more supportive.
As national attention turns to Idaho’s firing squad law, Derrick says the timeline is firm and construction is coming.
“With lethal injection, there's an uncertainty in the availability of chemicals. And so the firing squad provides a much more certain method of execution,” she said.
“Pretty soon, we'll need to actually start the retrofitting and the construction of our execution unit to be able to do this with dignity,” Derrick added.
