NEWS

April 05, 2011
Corrections chief: Supplemental money needed to keep current staff

The head of Iowa's prison system said Monday he would like to see the $14 million in supplemental money earmarked to his agency yet this fiscal year sooner rather than later. John Baldwin, director of the state Department of Corrections, said the $14.2 million to restore a cut ordered in January by former Gov. Chet Culver is needed to maintain the agency's current staffing level through June 30 at a time when the inmate population is on the rise.

The inmate count at Iowa's nine prisons on Monday stood at 8,987, which was a 25 percent overcrowding rate for a system with a design capacity to house 7,209 offenders. The corrections money is included in a $45.7 million supplemental spending measure that has gotten bogged down in partisan gridlock has majority Democrats in the Iowa Senate and majority Republicans in the Iowa House try to work through differences holding up Senate File 209.

"There is some point in the future where we have to have that money," Baldwin said. The corrections director said prison staffing levels slipped from 3,064 in fiscal 2009 to 2,811 last fiscal year and currently stands at about 2,820 due to ongoing budget cuts and an early-retirement incentive that created a surge in vacancies. Baldwin said he completed up to 250 new hires before budget concerns halted further expansion last October.

Baldwin said the supplemental money would ensure his agency can keep its current staffing levels and fiscal 2012 plans put forward by Gov. Terry Branstad and legislators could fund up to 43 new correctional officers next fiscal year. Meanwhile Monday, the Iowa State Penitentiary maximum-security facility in Fort Madison remained under lockdown status following what corrections officials said appeared to be an isolated but serious incident involving an inmate stabbing assault on another inmate last Friday.

Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta said the unidentified inmate that was stabbed was initially treated by health service staff at the penitentiary and then transported by ambulance to Fort Madison Community Hospital for further treatment. The inmate was later returned to the penitentiary with an injury that was described as "not life threatening."

The latest incident prompted officials with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61 to issue a statement urging state officials to "get serious" about addressing staffing issues at the state's prisons.

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