What A Prison Might Be
The following editorial is republished from the Des Moines Register:
It was a disappointment when the Iowa Legislature last year voted to build a new state penitentiary. Given all of Iowa’s other infrastructure needs – from highways to sewers – a major investment in a maximum-security prison should have been low on the list of priorities.
The Legislature has repeatedly increased criminal penalties, which drives increases in the prison population. Given that, lawmakers should first have had a serious discussion of how they could reduce the need for prison capacity before committing future generations to a new, $130.7 million penitentiary.
The decision to build was made, however, so at the very least the state should now exploit this opportunity to rethink how a prison should be designed and operated: If this one lasts as long as the 170-year-old existing penitentiary, Iowa will live with the result for a very long time …
The penitentiary houses those inmates classified as the most violent, the most troublesome and the highest risks of escaping. Many are serving life sentences, but most will eventually return to society. The Department of Corrections has commendable goals for giving them the tools – education, job training, drug and alcohol counseling and mental-health services – to eventually return to productive lives. The new penitentiary should be designed with those goals in mind, not only from the perspective of guards and staff, but from a perspective of rehabilitation.
The overall plan and physical condition of the existing penitentiary could be considered an impediment to criminal rehabilitation: The depressing, at times barbaric, conditions of the penitentiary surely contribute to the dehumanizing effect of prison life. The layout of cells resembles kennels. With guards largely confined in control booths, the opportunity for meaningful and constructive interaction on a human level is limited.
The new prison should dramatically change that atmosphere: It should afford inmates access to daylight, views to the outside, indoor and outdoor exercise facilities and ample space for shops and classrooms for job training, counseling and remedial education.
Since the penitentiary was first established in 1839, it has witnessed numerous movements to try new methods of reforming convicted criminals, from hard labor to severe discipline, designed to change criminal behavior. Planning a new penitentiary offers opportunity to experiment, again, with prison reform. The new prison still will be an institution for confining the toughest criminal convicts, but the state should never lose sight of the idea that these men are capable of change. The new prison should reflect that optimism.
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