NEWS

February 12, 2008
Putting up a fight Area residents encouraged to lobby legislators to keep prison in Fort Madison

The fight to keep the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison was continued Monday morning as representatives of several groups held a press conference to explain what steps are being taken to secure the prison.

Kirk Butler, president of the Fort Madison Chamber of Commerce, said on Friday letters were sent to the legislators who are seeking to move the prison. Reps. Steven Lukan, Lance Horbach and David Tjepkes all got letters explaining the reasons ISP should stay in the town where it has operated since before Iowa was even a state.

Butler said the prison employs about 550 people, or 5 percent of the Fort Madison population. He said its closing would be like closing the Principal Group in Des Moines, which would cost 9,700 jobs, or 5 percent of the Des Moines population.

It wouldn't only be prison workers losing jobs either. Butler said a lot of companies provide goods and services for the prison. Those companies would lose out.

Matt Morris with the Fort Madison Economic Development Group said it is “absolutely imperative” that the prison stay in Fort Madison.” He said it just doesn't make sense to move a business from one Iowa community to another.

Fort Madison Mayor Steve Ireland agreed and said Fort Madison, with it's budget crunch, can't afford to lose even one job.

“We've had to fight to get what we have and we have to fight to keep it,”” he said.

Ireland said the reasons the few legislators who want to move the prison have are “contrived and have no merit.”

Larry Kruse, sitting in for Lee County Republican Chair Pat Breen, said Breen had talked to some of these legislators and one said it would be easier on medical costs.

The prison sends prisoners to Iowa City for medical problems because of a deal between the state and the university hospital. Kruse said the mileage between Newton (one of the proposed sites) and Iowa City is practically the same as the mileage between Fort Madison and Iowa City.

Kruse said keeping ISP in Fort Madison has been part of the Lee County GOP platform since 2006.

“We don't see it as a partisan issue, but a community issue,”” he said. “We need to ban together to keep these jobs here.””

The Lee County Democrats' representative at the press conference was Chair Rick Larkin. Larkin works at ISP as well and said it is his job and he knows how the community would suffer without those jobs.

He also said the workforce is here and ready to go when the new prison opens the doors. Training would be costly at a facility in some other city.

Tracy Vance, executive director of the Fort Madison Area Chamber of Commerce, said area residents are encouraged to write letters to Tjepkes, Lukan and Horbach and speak with legislators whenever they are in Des Moines for different functions.

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