Inmates will get photo identification cards

Having photo identification is something most take for granted. However, if you're an inmate just getting out of prison, acquiring a valid, up-to-date photo ID may not be so easy to get.

That's why the Idaho State Department of Corrections, Department of Motor Vehicles and Idaho Transportation Department are teaming up to install photo ID machines in all of Idaho's prisons.

They are currently up and running in Kuna, Orofino and Pocatello.

Inmates will now be issued state ID Cards upon release so they can acquire vital documents, a driver's license and employment.

The catalyst behind this program is Jodi Peterson, executive director of the interfaith sanctuary in Boise. She discovered the problem while helping a homeless former inmate get a photo ID so that he cold take a job he had been offered.

"So, they printed off his mugshot, but they couldn't use that as a photo ID, and basically for the next seven months I worked with this homeless man to get him his birth certificate and to eventually get him his photo ID," Peterson said.

Officials with Idaho's Department of Corrections and the state transportation department hope to have the photo ID machines up and running in all of Idaho's state prison facilities by the fall of 2019.