Rhoades

Cost of Rhoades execution? About $53K

Department says costs broke down into employee overtime and operational expenses

By IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE STAFF

   newsroom@idahopress.com  

   BOISE — The Nov. 18 execution of Paul Ezra Rhoades cost the Idaho Department of Correction $53,411, IDOC spokesman Jeff Ray announced Friday.

   Of the total, $25,583 went to employee overtime and $27,828 went to operating costs.

   The department made a commitment to conducting the execution with professionalism and dignity,

   IDOC Director Brent Reinke said in a prepared statement.

   “We believe we met those standards while at the same time being careful stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Reinke said.

   Rhoades was executed Nov. 18 by lethal injection at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. In 1988, he was sentenced to death for the murders of 34-year-old school teacher Susan Michelbacher and 21-yearold newlywed Stacy Baldwin, and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 20-year-old convenience store clerk Nolan Haddon.    Operating expenses related to the execution included medical supplies, equipment rentals and meals. The total cost figure does not include salary and benefits paid to IDOC staff who would have been working regardless of whether or not there had been an execution. Only overtime costs that were accrued as a result of the event were included in the final tally.

   For comparison, Ray referenced the Oregon Department of Corrections’ preparation for the execution of death row inmate Gary Haugen. The ODOC reportedly spent $57,574 before Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber granted Haugen a temporary reprieve just weeks before his planned Nov. 22 execution.

   Haugen has been on death row for four years for the fatal 2003 stabbing of inmate David Polin. He is also serving a life sentence for the 1981 beating of Mary Archer, his ex-girlfriend’s mother.

   After Rhoades’ execution, Reinke expressed thanks to Kuna Fire, Boise Police, Ada County Sheriff, Ada County Highway District, Idaho State Police, and the other city, county and state agencies that assisted with the events surrounding the execution.

   Rhoades execution was performed using a new lethal injection protocol in the state’s new chamber at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. Fourteen inmates remain on Death Row in Idaho.


Ain't this just great.  By the time this guy gets the needle, we taxpayers have shelled out over a half-million dollars to house the guy and kill him.  My question, was he worth it?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------