NEWS
September 2, 2007
Iowa tightens security at prison - Fort Madison getting $1.6 million upgrade
Iowa's toughest prison is undergoing a $1.6 million security upgrade aimed at keeping the state's most dangerous convicts behind bars.
The Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, which has 1,119 inmates, continues to tighten security in the wake of the November 2005 escape of two prisoners serving life sentences, state prison officials confirmed last week.
The convicts were recaptured in Missouri and Illinois, but their success in fleeing the prison's maximum-security unit raised serious questions that have been examined in studies by consultants for the National Institute of Corrections and a private criminal justice firm.
The security improvements, some of which are still under way, include the installation of a security fence near the north and west prison walls to create a "no-persons zone," renovation of prison towers and installation of high-mast lighting, said Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections. In addition, digital camera surveillance has been upgraded and two older buildings are being demolished near the 30-foot limestone wall that surrounds the penitentiary, he said.
Iowa prison administrators have also been exploring the possibility of installing an electric stun fence atop the penitentiary's wall to provide additional deterrence, although there are no immediate plans to request money for an electrified fence, Scaletta said.
State Sen. Eugene Fraise, a Fort Madison Democrat and co-chairman of the legislative prison study committee, said he is satisfied that prison officials are taking necessary steps to bolster security. The money for improvements is being well spent because he doesn't expect a new prison to be built at Fort Madison for at least five or six years, he added.
"I think they've learned their lesson since the two escapes," Fraise said. "If you let your guard down, why they are going to find a hole and get out."
Danny Homan, president of Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents prison employees at Fort Madison, said he has no objection to the security improvements. But Homan said the Fort Madison prison - as well as Iowa's eight other state prisons - all require more correctional officers to ensure that proper security is provided.
"I don't want anyone to forget that in my humble opinion - and in the opinion of this union - that those two inmates escaped from the Fort Madison penitentiary almost two years ago because they didn't have enough staff on duty at the time," Homan said.
State records show that the Iowa State Penitentiary last week had 556 employees. This included 365 correctional officers, which was 21 more than shortly after the 2005 escapes. The entire Iowa Department of Corrections has 4,362 employees in prisons and community corrections programs.
Inmates Martin Moon and Robert Legendre made a daring escape from the Fort Madison prison on Nov. 14, 2005, using a handcrafted rope and a grappling hook to scale the prison wall. Moon, serving time for murder, and Legendre, imprisoned for attempted murder and kidnapping, were the first inmates to escape from the maximum-security institution since 1979. The two convicts disappeared over a section of the prison wall that had a security tower left unstaffed because of state budget cuts.
Afterward, prison officials immediately ordered the tower to be staffed around clock.
The prison wall has an electronic taut-wire alarm system that is intended to detect escapes. But the convicts simply climbed over the wires without setting off the alarm, investigators found.
Fort Madison prison spokesman Ron Welder said last week that plans are being developed to upgrade the taut-wire systems at the Iowa State Penitentiary and the Anamosa State Penitentiary, but the work hasn't been done yet.
Although both Moon and Legendre were returned to custody within days, their escape led to the establishment of a legislative study committee to consider the construction of a new prison.
The Fort Madison penitentiary was established in 1839 and is the oldest prison west of the Mississippi River. State lawmakers have scheduled a Sept. 19 meeting in Fort Madison to tour the prison.
In an effort to further bolster security at Fort Madison, Iowa prison officials have traveled to examine an electrified prison fence at the Oakhill Correctional Institution in Oregon, Wis. Deputy Iowa Corrections Director Larry Brimeyer told the Iowa Board of Corrections in July that it would cost an estimated $235,000 to install electrified fences at Fort Madison and Anamosa.
Dan Westfield, security chief for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, said in an interview that four prisons in his state are using electrical stun fences and none has had an escape since they were installed. Such fences, which are growing in use nationally, won't electrocute a fleeing inmate, but offer deterrence "by stunning the individual and knocking them back," Westfield said.
Security improvements at Iowa State Penitentiary:
Demolition of death row Cell House 297 - Completed - $31,860 Demolition of inmate Hobbycraft Building - Asbestos being removed - $85,600
High-mast lighting forbig yard and complex - Planned $1,392,420
Additional fencing to create "no-persons zone" - Completed - $59,230
Tower renovations - In progress - 29,866
Total estimated costs: $1,598,976
Note: Statistics do not include digital surveillance camera upgrades and planned improvements of taut wire alarm system. The costs include moving the inmate weight yard.
Source: Iowa Department of Corrections
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