NEWS

May 29, 2007
Chief of Iowa's prisons ready to tackle issues

By William Petroski
Des Moines Register Staff Writer

The new boss of Iowa's prison system is accustomed to being in the middle of the action, both on and off the playing fields.

John Baldwin worked fall weekends for about 30 years as a football referee, throwing penalty flags and signaling touchdowns at Iowa high school and college games until retiring last year. He is also a former basketball official.

As the new director of the Iowa Department of Corrections, Baldwin has been thrust into the center of a high-profile policy debate over the future of Iowa's prison system.

He said he'll try to help the state's political leaders find common ground to address problems such as a growing population of women behind bars, a large number of mentally ill convicts, and antiquated prison facilities.

"I think I have a very open style. I try for consensus where at all possible," Baldwin said in an interview at his office in Des Moines.

Baldwin, a Fort Dodge native, is responsible for about 8,900 prisoners and 30,000 offenders in community corrections programs. His state agency employs about 4,100 employees and operates on a budget of about $370 million. He was the department's deputy director of administration for 24 years before Gov. Chet Culver appointed him to the top job in April, succeeding Gary Maynard, who accepted a post in Maryland. Baldwin served three stints over the years as the agency's interim director.

Baldwin said one of his priorities will be to emphasize fundamental skills for correctional employees to ensure safety and to help inmates succeed once they are freed from prison. All prison wardens and community corrections directors have been asked to list their top five training needs, and suggestions are being sought from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, he said.

"Within the next year and a half, we are going to craft programs that are tailored for each one of those" prisons and community corrections districts, he said. "They are going to be different in Fort Madison than Rockwell City, and they are going to be different in the 5th District than they are in the 3rd District."

A recent report submitted to the Iowa Legislature by the Durrant Group, an Iowa-based consultant, has called for a major construction program to upgrade facilities throughout Iowa's prison system.

Baldwin said he agrees that Fort Madison's antiquated maximum-security prison must be replaced, and that programs for female inmates should be consolidated at the Mitchellville prison, which will require additional construction there.

He also wants to build more community corrections facilities because almost 400 inmates are on waiting lists in Iowa's prisons to enter community corrections residential centers.

"We want to focus on where our community corrections waiting lists are longest, and that is clearly in Des Moines, Waterloo, Sioux City and in the Ottumwa region," he said. "If we concentrate on those two prisons - at Fort Madison and Mitchellville - and on the community corrections side, we would go a long way towards solving some of those overcrowding issues."

The total cost for these construction projects would be about $200 million, he said.

Down the road, perhaps over the next 10 or 15 years, the state must also consider the future of the Anamosa State Penitentiary, which requires an estimated $90 million for modernization work, Baldwin said. But he believes any decision about Anamosa doesn't have to be made immediately.

Iowa has almost 800 women in prison, and they are being sent to prison at a faster pace than men.

Baldwin said he hopes to help address the issue by developing a gender-specific system for classifying inmates to update a system developed in the early 1980s. He also wants the state to focus on treatment for women that deals with substance abuse and family issues.

"Women have different needs, and I think we can address some of them in the community. Women, on average, come into prison with less violent crimes than men, and they stay fewer months in prison, and they recidivate at a lower rate. We should be able to craft some programs to expand upon that and keep the women in the community."

Almost 3,000 convicts in Iowa's prisons have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Baldwin said the issue can be addressed only with a broad approach that includes cooperation from the Iowa Department of Human Services, the University of Iowa, groups such as the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and others.

BACKGROUND: Age 57; Fort Dodge High School graduate, 1968; University of Iowa, bachelor's degree in economics, 1972; Iowa State University, master's degree in political science and public administration, 1978.

CAREER: Iowa Division of Adult Corrections and Iowa Department of Corrections since 1977; deputy director of administration starting in 1983; appointed state corrections director in April.

FAMILY: Wife, Carol; two sons: Tyler, an attorney in Des Moines; Todd, a U.S. Army officer at Fort Campbell, Ky.

SALARY: $134,056.

Q&A with John Baldwin

Iowa Corrections Director John Baldwin talked about issues facing his agency in an interview with The Des Moines Register.

Q: What's good about Iowa's corrections system?

A: The staff. The staff are really, really good. By and large, I would put our staff against anybody's corrections system. They are dedicated. They work hard. They truly do care. Our other biggest strength is that we are willing to try new initiatives. We have been a leader in community-based corrections. We had a psychiatric hospital long before the mental health issue really surfaced. We have built some very appropriate beds as far as dealing with people from a treatment perspective.

Q: What are the department's shortfalls?

A: The whole state is going to have to work on the mental health issue. We just have to have a better solution. We have gotten some reception from the folks at the Department of Human Services and we have some legislative interest. Our Board of Corrections is very concerned. We are going to have to have a systemic approach. We can't do it all by ourselves.

Q: Does the Department of Corrections need more staff?

A: We are still working on that right now. By the time July 1st rolls around, we will go over 4,400 authorized (full-time equivalent employees). Oakdale is adding almost 300 FTEs to our operation.

Q: How do you address the widespread problem of substance abuse among people entering prison?

A: We want to find a way to increase the amount of money going into substance abuse, and we would be very willing to partner with the private sector and the Department of Public Health to find some type of opportunity to access funds and so forth. When people are released from prison, if they have access to medicine, access to education, and access to jobs and housing, they will be successful. Right now, we give them 30 days' worth of medicine and say, "You are on your own."

Q: How does Iowa address the disproportionate percentage of imprisoned African-Americans, who represent almost 24 percent of the state's prisoners?

A: Governor Culver is creating a committee that will look at that from a systemic approach with other agencies joining in -- church groups, whoever wants to help. We cannot be the whole solution, but we want to be part of the solution.

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