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February 26, 2007
Security study urges changes at Iowa prison

William Petroski Richard Doak
Register Staff Writer

The Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison still suffers from security flaws that could make it vulnerable to the type of escape that occurred in November 2005 when two dangerous convicts fled from the maximum-security prison, according to a new federal security audit.

Two consultants from the National Institute of Corrections who spent two days inspecting the Iowa prison in October suggested relocating an electronic alarm system on the prison’s walls, adding more razor wire, improving outside lighting and acquiring more digital cameras.

The consultants also recommended acquiring better metal detectors, along with so-called “heartbeat monitors” that can catch inmates hiding in vehicles leaving the prison.

In addition, they suggested that inmates working in the Prison Industries building be required to strip naked and go through metal detectors while headed to and from their job assignments.

Inmates Martin Moon and Robert Legendre, both serving life sentences, made a daring escape from the State Penitentiary on Nov. 14, 2005, using a handcrafted rope and a grappling hook to scale a 30-foot limestone wall that surrounds the prison.

Moon, serving time for murder, and Legendre, serving sentences for attempted murder and kidnapping, were the first inmates to escape from the maximum-security since 1979.

Both were captured within days -- Moon in Illinois and Legendre in Missouri, but their escape raised serious questions about security at the penitentiary, which was established in the 1800s and is the oldest prison west of the Mississippi River.

Both inmates had been part of a Prison Industries work crew, and they disappeared over a section of the prison wall that had a guard tower left unstaffed because of state budget cuts.

After the escape, prison officials ordered the tower be immediately staffed around
the clock.

The consultants, Stan Czerniak and James Upchurch, were invited to inspect the Fort Madison prison by the Iowa Department of Corrections. Czerniak is assistant director of operations for the Oregon Department of Corrections; Upchurch is bureau chief for security operations with the Florida Deparment of Corrections.

They worked in Iowa under the auspices of the National Institute of Corrections, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Justice.

Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta said Monday the
penitentiary has only been in receipt of the report for a short period of time and has not been able to implement many of the recommendations.

Also, many of the recommendations will require a cost that is not currently within
the penitentiary’s budget, but will be requested in future state appropriations, he said.

Danny Homan, president of Council 61 of the American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees, which represents prison workers at Fort
Madison, criticized the security audit.

“This report is the classic a little and too late,” Homan said. “The two escapes happened in 2005, and now a federally funded outside group comes forward to say what should be changed and how it should be done.”

He said the union and prison officials have been ironing out the security problems
for more than one year.

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