NEWS

January 7, 2007
Officials beef up Oakdale prison's perimeter

Security worries at the Oakdale state prison near Iowa City are prompting state officials to spend $2 million to install new high-tech fences and outdoor lighting to prevent escapes.

Construction on the new double-barrier fence is under way and should be completed by late spring or early summer, Deputy Corrections Director Larry Brimeyer told the Iowa Board of Corrections on Friday.

The old metal fence was damaged during a winter storm last February in which an ice buildup, coupled with strong winds, bent eight metal posts, officials said.

"It's a very old fence, very rusty, and it is really quite inadequate from a security standpoint when you consider that we are housing medium- and maximum-security inmates," Brimeyer said.

The Oakdale prison - officially the Iowa Medical and Classification Center - holds about 830 inmates. It's the starting point for all new convicts, and it holds inmates with special health problems. The prison is near the University of Iowa's Oakdale campus and is north of Coral Ridge Mall, one of Iowa's largest shopping centers.

Two dangerous inmates escaped from the Oakdale prison in April 2003 after electronic alarms were shut off on the existing fence while a construction project was under way, officials said.

Omar Wilkins of Sioux City, serving a life sentence for murder, and Jeffrey Hershberger of Ottumwa, a habitual offender, both scaled the prison fence. They then forced a fisherman at gunpoint into the trunk of a car they stole at the prison. The men were eventually recaptured in Georgia.

The new metal mesh fence under construction at Oakdale is identical to a security fence at the Newton Correctional Facility, where no inmate has escaped, Brimeyer said. It has twin barriers and multiple rolls of razor wire at the top of the fence.

"There are also multiple rolls of razor wire at the bottom of the outside fence, so we will have far more razor wire than we have now," Brimeyer said. The fence will have electronic alarms to alert officers if an escape is attempted.

The security upgrade will include new high-mast lighting, Brimeyer said. The work, which will be completed sometime this year, will provide outside lights on 50-foot poles instead of the current 20- to 30-foot poles.

"What we have now is not adequate. We have lots of dark spaces," Brimeyer said. "In my opinion, we are very vulnerable on the west side of the institution. That is the back side, and it is bordered by a wooded area."

BACK TO NEWS PAGE