NEWS

May 3, 2008
Officials begin work on prisons

The first inmates won't be locked up at Fort Madison's new 800-bed, maximum-security prison until January 2014, but Iowa corrections officials are already working on the $131 million project.

Corrections Director John Baldwin said Friday his staff will select engineers and architects by November for a $228 million package of prison construction projects approved by the Iowa Legislature.

Besides the Fort Madison facility, lawmakers authorized $68 million to expand and upgrade the state women's prison at Mitchellville. They also agreed to help ease prison crowding with room for 110 offenders in community corrections facilities in Waterloo, Sioux City and Ottumwa.
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In addition, a consultant will search for the most suitable sites in the Des Moines area to house up to an additional 170 offenders on parole, probation and work-release. A report will be given to lawmakers early next year.

"We have the opportunity to make some major system improvements. We are going to take that very, very seriously," Baldwin told the Iowa Board of Corrections.

Baldwin said his goals also call for improved treatment programs for inmates with mental health and substance abuse problems, better classification of inmates, and community "re-entry services" to help keep ex-convicts out of prison.

Iowa's prisons hold 8,637 inmates. The number is forecast to grow to 9,730 by mid-year 2017.

The corrections board met Friday at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, where prison officials outlined their plans for construction:

Fort Madison: Construction is expected to begin in July 2010, with time for specialized architectural and engineering work required for a new maximum-security facility at the Iowa State Penitentiary.

"The construction of a maximum-security prison is very, very complex. We have to make sure that all of the bits and pieces that the contractors do are done correctly," Baldwin said.

The new prison will be built on a prison farm north of Fort Madison, just west of U.S. Highway 61, and will be designed to be more efficiently staffed and safer than the old prison, parts of which date to the 1800s, Baldwin said. It will be built in compliance with "green" standards to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

No decisions have been reached on whether the penitentiary's existing maximum-security unit will remain open, Baldwin said. The vice chairman of the corrections board, Arthur Neu of Carroll, said he is strongly opposed to keeping the old, crumbling facility open: "Is there a way that we can dismantle that so they don't have that option?"

Mitchellville: Construction will start in January 2010, and should be completed in two years, officials said. Older facilities will be demolished or modernized, and housing will be built to accommodate more inmates. The project will allow the consolidation of all female prisoners at Mitchellville, including about 100 at Mount Pleasant and some at Oakdale.

The Mitchellville prison holds 573 inmates, and women are entering Iowa's prisons at a faster rate than men.

Waterloo, Sioux City, Ottumwa: Construction should begin by late summer 2009 on expanded community corrections facilities in each city. The work, which should be completed by August 2010, will include room for an additional 43 offenders in Waterloo, 42 in Sioux City and 25 in Ottumwa.

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