NEWS

February 10, 2008
Fort Madison prison could stay in use, official says

The antiquated Iowa State Penitentiary's maximum-security unit could stay open, even if legislators approve spending $130.7 million to replace it, state Corrections Director John Baldwin said last week.

The old Fort Madison prison is outdated and inefficient, but public employee union leaders want to keep the old facility open after a new prison is constructed. They say that would ease crowding throughout Iowa's prison system. The new penitentiary would hold 800 inmates; the existing prison last week held 581.

Baldwin told the Des Moines Sunday Register's editors that he would strongly resist keeping the old prison operational if a new maximum- security prison is built, but that he can't guarantee that won't happen.

Either way, the penitentiary won't be torn down because of its historical significance, he said. It was established in 1839 and is the oldest prison west of the Mississippi River.

He added that he would not oppose converting it to a museum, even though tourists would pass by adjacent penitentiary facilities for mentally ill inmates and medium-security prisoners.

Baldwin considers it financially unwise to keep the old penitentiary operational because of its outdated design, regardless of whether the inmates are classified maximum-, medium- or minimum-custody status.

The old prison is staff-intensive, and is the most expensive correctional facility to operate in Iowa, he said.

"The maintenance on that building in the future will be just staggering," Baldwin said.

Gov. Chet Culver said Friday he thinks it's premature to talk about whether the old maximum-security unit will remain open if a new prison is constructed.
"I think the honest answer is, let's see what we do, if there is going to be a new one," Culver said.

With tight budgets, it could be difficult to operate both the old and new prisons, he added. "But if there is a demand and someone can make a good argument, we will look at it. ... We will hear them out."

Sen. Eugene Fraise, a Fort Madison Democrat who was co-chairman of a committee that recommended constructing a new prison, said Friday his panel did not answer the question of whether the old Fort Madison prison should stay open. Plans call for the new maximum-security prison to open in 2014.

"Who knows five years from now what the situation will be?" Fraise said. "If we get to the point where we are way over capacity and we need that for overflow, we can use that" old prison.

Johnie Hammond of Ames, an Iowa Board of Corrections member who wants a new prison at Fort Madison, said: "Those (old prison) cells are not suitable. ... People shouldn't have to live in those conditions. That's the point."

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