NEWS

December 29, 2008
Fort Madison prison gets OK'd in 2008

With portions of the Iowa State Penitentiary dating back before the Civil War, it's no wonder a revamp was on the docket during the 2008 legislative agenda.

There was no doubt on either side of the aisle that the Fort Madison facility was showing its age, but that's where the agreement ended.

Some Republicans argued the prison should be relocated to a more central part of the state, but their reasoning never gained much traction, especially with fellow members in southeast Iowa.

When the $130 million to get the project started was debated in the House, it won by a vote of 52-43. The crux of the disagreement was over whether the facility should be bonded or if it should be a pay-as-you-go system.

The majority Democrats won out, and the facility will be bonded.

After the floods, some said the money should be used for recovery but because it's a bond, the state can only use the funds to build that infrastructure.

"Of course the bond issues are revenue bonds," said Sen. Gene Fraise, D-Fort Madison. "That money comes from the fines and the court costs, and that stuff ... so it has nothing to do with the general budget."

While construction is not expected to get under way until 2010, a request for proposals for architecture and design firms likely will come at the beginning of the new fiscal year in July.

Even with the tough economy, Fraise said the prison construction is unlikely to come up for discussion again during the 2009 session.

"I know it's going to come along," Fraise said. "The only thing that would stop it is if people decided to behave themselves so there would be no inmates showing up that we'd have to house, but we haven't seen strong indications of that."

The new building is expected to be completed in 2014. Even after the prison is built, though, some current buildings will be used, including the critical care unit, the John Bennett medium-security unit and the two farms.

Fraise said previously the old building is unlikely to be torn down once the new one is complete because it's on the National Register of Historic Places.

Although parts of the building were crumbling in 1999, a full renovation was not discussed until two convicts escaped ISP in November 2005.

At that time, then-Gov. Tom Vilsack of Mount Pleasant called upon the Department of Corrections to look into whether a new prison was needed.

Once a study came out in April 2007, current Gov. Chet Culver made the prison a priority and promised it would remain in Fort Madison.

"I asked for this because I believe replacing this prison is first and foremost a matter of public safety," Culver said when he signed the bill May 9 in Fort Madison.

The Great River Region group labeled the prison its critical legislative issue in 2008.

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