NEWS

December 27, 2007
Iowa inmates' handiwork helps poor

The state's most dangerous convicts are in closely guarded custody at the Iowa State Penitentiary, but some are working to make life a little better for Iowa's low-income families.

The Habitat for Humanity program inside the prison's maximum-security unit employs 33 inmates full time to construct oak cabinets and household wall panels for Habitat programs statewide.
The products are shipped out for assembly in communities by volunteers or low-risk offenders.

Everett Fields, 51, who is serving a 30-year sentence for an attempted murder in Burlington, has participated in the Habitat construction program since it was started at the prison more than four years ago.

He drilled wood on a recent morning in the prison's workshop to make a doorway for a Habitat house.

"You have to want to work, and you have to want to be here to be part of this program," Fields said. "We have pretty fair supervisors, and the program helps unfortunate people who can't afford homes. This is the best job in the prison, if you ask me."
Holding a job with Habitat for Humanity provides inmates with meaningful work even though the pay is low, ranging from 26 cents to 53 cents per hour, state officials said.

Many of these inmates said they grew up in poverty and recognize their labor will be appreciated by disadvantaged people in communities outside the prison's 30-foot-high limestone walls.

Stephen Keyes, 38, is serving a life sentence for a 1997 murder conviction in Linn County. He uses his computer skills and a special software program to design kitchens and entire homes for Habitat for Humanity programs.
"I love working for Habitat, the experience, and being able to give back to the community," Keyes said.

The Habitat for Humanity program was established at the Fort Madison prison in September 2003. The inmates work for 22 of Iowa's 35 Habitat for Humanity affiliates by building kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and the panels for interior and exterior walls. Two prison employees and one security officer supervise the inmates.

The cabinets are made of Appalachian red oak with interiors of Baltic birch imported from Russia. The wood is finished with one coat of stain and three to four coats of a premium tung oil-based product.
The average cost of cabinets for one Habitat home is about $1,800, said Bryan Koechle, who supervises the program with prison employee Mike Peters.

Over the past year, the prisoners have constructed walls for nine Habitat homes, including five houses in the Des Moines area, Koechle said.

The housing framework is numbered, piece by piece, inside the penitentiary so it can be reassembled under the supervision of a construction manager when it arrives at a Habitat home site.
"For the construction quality and the cost, we can't beat it. The work is very good," said Bobbi Bendickson of Mason City, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Iowa.

She said she would like the prison program to be expanded because Habitat community programs purchase lower-quality cabinets from discount lumber warehouses when inmates can't accommodate all of their requests for products.

Iowa is one of about 37 states in which prisoners build cabinets or housing framework for Habitat programs, said Jack Nordgaard, a Decorah, Ia., native who helped to organize the first Habitat prison program in Illinois in the early 1990s.
A Habitat program also operates at the State Training School for Boys in Eldora, where juvenile offenders construct framing for walls and travel to communities to help with assembly work.

In addition, a proposal is being considered to establish a Habitat program at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.

"Habitat is probably the largest provider of homes for low-income families in the country," said Nordgaard, who lives in Red Wing, Minn. "One of the things that we really stress is that these prisoners are members of Habitat for Humanity, just like people on the outside."
Fort Madison Warden John Ault said the Habitat program has worked well because it keeps inmates busy -- important in a maximum-security prison -- while teaching them skills.

David Flores, 30, who is serving a life sentence for a 1996 shooting death in Des Moines, said he enjoys woodworking but participates in the program mainly to help others in need.

"I build cabinets and cabinet doors to help families that might not be fortunate, just to give them a boost," Flores said. "It stands for something positive."

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