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January 12, 2007
Expand prisons in Iowa, says consultant

By William Petroski
Register Staff Writer

Iowa's prison system would construct new space for more than 1,500 convicts at Fort Madison, Mitchellville and Newton under a state consultant's recommendations presented Thursday to the Iowa Board of Corrections.

The plan would include the replacement of antiquated prison cellblocks over the next five years, while providing housing to accommodate growth in the state's prison population, as well as other moves to update the state's correctional facilities and programs.

The recommendations, which are being developed for the Iowa Department of Corrections by the Durrant Group of Dubuque and criminal justice specialists, include:

- Constructing space for 800 convicts at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison to replace older housing units, bolstering security and reducing operational costs. The current Prison Industries Building, which is inside the penitentiary's maximum-security unit, would be demolished, providing space for the new housing, the consultants said. A relatively new Clinical Care Unit, which houses mentally ill offenders, would play an important role in the penitentiary's long-term plans.

- Consolidating all prison units for women at Mitchellville, where new housing would be constructed for 512 inmates who would be provided gender-specific programs. This plan would shift women now held at Oakdale and Mount Pleasant to Mitchellville, and some older housing units at Mitchellville would be replaced. In addition, the state's prison reception center for women would be moved from Oakdale to Mitchellville. Iowa now has 787 female prisoners, including 642 at Mitchellville.

- Building an additional housing unit at the Newton Correctional Facility to accommodate about 250 to 300 inmates to avert overcrowding elsewhere in the prison system. The medium-security Newton prison now holds 890 inmates, while an adjacent minimum-security release center has 346 inmates.

Michael Lewis of Des Moines, a managing principal for the Durrant Group, said the consultants have completed about half of their research and will issue a final report to the Legislature by April 1.

The preliminary findings issued Thursday did not include cost estimates for prison construction.

Corrections Board member Arthur Neu of Carroll said after the consultant's presentation that there is no question that prison facilities must be upgraded at Fort Madison, where 1,054 inmates reside in several custody levels.

"I think that place ought to become a museum, and we ought to build a new maximum-security prison there," he said.

But state Sen. Eugene Fraise, a Fort Madison Democrat, disagreed. The existing maximum-security prison, despite its age, can be used to hold less dangerous inmates if a new maximum-security penitentiary is constructed nearby, he said.

"To abandon that facility, I think, would be a foolish move because we have spent a lot of money there over the years" on repairs and other improvements, Fraise said.

The consultant's study said taxpayer money would be better spent on new facilities at Fort Madison.

Prison officials have said the penitentiary requires $26.2 million in major maintenance work over the next five years.

Robyn Mills of Johnston, chairwoman of the Board of Corrections, said it's become clear that state officials need to seriously consider using the Mitchellville prison to consolidate programs for female offenders.

"Then we can really focus on gender-based treatment. We will get our best bang for the buck doing that," she said.

Corrections Board member Johnie Hammond of Ames said she's not opposed to replacing outdated facilities, but believes legislators should consider rewriting sentencing laws so less-risky offenders can be supervised in community corrections programs instead of prisons.

She said she's concerned that if new prison space is constructed, the prison system will again be facing crowding problems in five years.

Lawmakers authorized the consultant's study last year following the escape in late 2005 of two dangerous inmates from the Fort Madison penitentiary.

Although they were recaptured, questions arose whether the Fort Madison prison, parts of which were constructed before the Civil War, is too antiquated to ensure public safety.

Some experts have estimated a new maximum-security prison would cost at least $80 million.

Iowa currently has 8,862 inmates in nine state prisons. State researchers have estimated the prison population will grow to 11,363 by 2016.

The Durrant findings noted that Iowa has growing demands for mental health services in its prison system.

Last year, there were 2,902 inmates who had been diagnosed as mentally ill, but there are no psychiatric beds for female offenders, the report said. In addition, some beds now designated for mental health services do not meet acceptable design standards for offenders with mental illness.

Although 90 percent of offenders have had problems with alcohol or drugs, the department's treatment capacity is 1,894 offenders annually, a decrease from past years, the report said. But the number of convicts with substance abuse problems is expected to keep growing.

The research concluded that Iowa does not have a full range of treatment programs for sex offenders with special needs; treatment programs are not available for sex offenders with mental illness; and gender-specific sex offender treatment is not available for female offenders.

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