BOISE — The Idaho Board of Correction has appointed Josh Tewalt director of the Idaho Department of Correction.
Tewalt will replace current Director Henry Atencio, who announced his retirement last week.
Tewalt’s first day will be Dec. 1, and Atencio’s last day will be Dec. 31. Both men are paid $74.69 an hour, which, at 40 hours per work week, evens out to $155,355.20 annually.
Tewalt is rejoining the department after leaving to be the director of operations of the Association of State Correctional Administrators, according to a press release from IDOC spokesman Jeff Ray. Before that, Tewalt worked as deputy chief of the Division of Prisons and more recently as administrator of budget and policy. In those roles, he helped shape a department reorganization to prepare for future demands.
Tewalt’s biography on the Association of State Correctional Administrators’ website states he worked for former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, focusing on “education and agriculture policy, advance work, and communications.” He left that position to work as a field representative for then-Congressman Butch Otter, where he specialized in agriculture and natural resources policy, according to the profile.
In 2011, then-30-year-old Tewalt was the subject of an Idaho Statesman story detailing his three arrests for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and noted his success in the department despite the lack of a college degree. At that point in time, as deputy chief of the Division of Prisons, he earned $83,200 a year. In 2009, the story reads, Gov. Butch Otter officiated at Tewalt’s wedding at the governor’s ranch in Star.
According to that story, Tewalt’s drunk driving convictions occurred between 2002 and 2006, when the Meridian native worked in then-Congressman Butch Otter’s office. After his third arrest, Tewalt resigned from his position, months before Otter secured the governor’s office for the first time.
Aside from the three DUIs — one of which, according to the Statesman story, Gem County amended to inattentive driving in 2005 — Tewalt was listed as the defendant in several infraction cases between 1997 and 2008, according to the Idaho Supreme Court’s online repository. Most of those infraction cases are bundles of traffic tickets from expired parking meters, although some are traffic violations.
After leaving Otter’s office, Tewalt was hired by the Idaho Cattle Association, during which time he “was responsible for advancing the association’s interests with lawmakers in Idaho and Washington, D.C.” He returned to work in public service when Otter was elected governor and “oversaw public safety issues as both a senior budget analyst and special assistant.”
Leaders at the Idaho Department of Correction noticed his work, according to the profile, and in 2011 he was hired as deputy chief for the Division of Prisons. He was later promoted to administrator of budget and policy.
“Josh was instrumental to the department’s success when he was here, and he returns to the department with a national perspective on corrections,” Debbie Field, chairwoman of the Idaho Board of Correction, said in a press release. “Josh’s creativity and innovation will benefit public safety in Idaho, but equally important is his care and concern for the staff of the department, and the people in their custody and supervision. We’re excited to have him back.”
