Tammy Iowa, Violent Crime

Diverting mentally ill inmates out of the Johnson County Jail is saving the county almost half a million dollars a year and helping with overcrowding.

The jail-alternative program, established under the Mental Health Department in 2005, helps inmates who are mentally disabled by making sure they get the treatment they need and help to get them out of incarceration, because their mental-health symptoms could worsen the longer they’re locked up, said Pat Harney, the chairman of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Report by The Daily Iowan.

Jessica Peckover, team leader of the jail-alternative program, told the supervisors Thursday the most recent cost of a jail-bed day — when an inmate occupies a holding space — for the jail is reported as being $64.60 per day. The number of jail-bed days used by the 660 inmates prior to the jail-alternative program was 30,308 beds used in a year. After one year of the jail-alternative program, only 10,296 jail-bed days were used. The difference saved roughly $1.3 million in additional costs, Peckover said.

“Even taking into account the cost of the program since inception, there is still about $450,000 of cost savings,” she said.

Peckover said there are a number of unquantifiable cost-savings that include preventing repeat offenses, lawsuits, psychiatric hospitalizations, and committals of the mentally disabled inmates. Other savings include promoting community wellness, public safety, and the enhancement of inmates’ quality of life.

Supervisor Sally Stutsman, a strong supporter of the program, said it focuses most of its time helping these individuals at the Health and Human Services Building, but they also spend time at the jail or other communities.

“Not only does this help alleviate the crowding, but it’s also diverting people who shouldn’t be in jails,” she said. “It’s better for the individual because there’s a number of people related to criminal activity that have mental issues, and this really becomes a preventative program for those in need.”

Stutsman said that, without a doubt, the jail would be more overcrowded without this program.

“The community wanted us to create some alternative to putting people out of jail, and this is the best alternative that we came up with,” she said.

Harney also supports the program and said it’s helpful for Johnson County.

“The idea is to keep them out of jails and institutions, and I’m really glad we have this jail-alternative program in place,” he said.

admin IA Johnson County, Iowa, Mental Health Issues, Overcrowding

Johnson County IA costs to house inmates outside its overcrowded jail doubled from 2006 to 2008, according to a report released Monday by the Sheriff’s Office.  Report from The Gazette.

That was not much of a surprise — the county has known those expenses are rising — but Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said it’s another reminder that the current jail is too small.    “The jail is still a huge issue out there that hasn’t been resolved,” he said.

The county spent $900,595 to house inmates elsewhere last year, up from $447,915 in 2006. It spent another $73,813 last year on transportation costs, compared with $48,109 two years before.  The county averaged 135 inmates a day last year, up from 115 in 2006; the Johnson County Jail has 92 beds …

Tax increases, the recent $20 million conservation bond and the recession mean that a new jail is probably a few years from becoming a reality, supervisors Chairman Terrence Neuzil said.  “I think it’s pretty difficult to think that we’re going to be able to solve this issue in the short term,” he said.

In the meantime, the county has implemented jail alternative programs to lessen the stress on the jail and recently began sending all overflow inmates to Marshall County, with Johnson County paying a lower rate than it had been to other counties.

vericatrajkova California, Economic Issues, IA Johnson County, INTERNATIONAL, Iowa, Overcrowding

Spending on Iowa’s prison system will be slashed by nearly $11 million under a plan approved Wednesday in the Iowa House.  Reported by the Quad City Times.

Most areas of the state budget are seeing steep cuts, and the state’s justice system was no exception.   Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, said in order to meet budget targets, lawmakers had to impose significant cuts.   Overall, the state’s justice system budget, which includes corrections, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and other agencies, saw $18.4 million in cuts.   “These are the areas that we believe are essential functions of government and every single cut is very difficult,” said Taylor, who guided debate on the bill.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Iowa

The proportion of blacks being admitted to Iowa prisons has reached its highest point in at least 14 years, in spite of efforts by Gov. Chet Culver to bring more balance to one of the most pronounced disparities in the country.  This report from the Des Moines Register.

A state analyst confirmed Tuesday that the proportion of blacks being sent to prison is worsening again. Blacks account for 24.3 percent of all new Iowa prison admissions in fiscal year 2009.  The percentage of prisoners incarcerated for drug crimes who are black is 28.4 percent in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. That’s the highest level since 1996 …

Tuesday’s news was discouraging for drug policy officials and black leaders in Iowa, where disproportionate minority confinement has been a problem for at least the last 25 years.The new findings come as Iowa’s long-growing prison population is leveling off, in part because new prison admissions for drug-related crimes are declining for the fifth straight year.   “If drug offenses are on the decline in general, you have to wonder why that is” that the percentage of blacks being admitted to Iowa’s prisons is rising, said state Rep. Deborah Berry, D-Waterloo. “I certainly want to find out more” …

A state law that passed in 2005 greatly altered Iowa’s prison admissions. From 2000 to 2004, the numbers of whites behind bars had shot up substantially. But the new law restricted sales of the cold medicine used to make methamphetamine, and subsequently led to a sharp decline in arrests of meth makers, who were primarily white.   “Now that the meth manufacturing has dropped, the African-American percentage is rising again,” said Phyllis Blood, an analyst who tracks the prison population for Iowa’s Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. “Not necessarily as much in raw numbers, but as a percentage of the total prison population.”

In fiscal year 2009, 2,212 people have been admitted to Iowa prisons. Of those, 1,603 were white and 537 were black, state figures show.  Blacks made up 2.6 percent of Iowa’s population in 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

The article in the Des Moines Register has more detail and background.

vericatrajkova Corrections History, Iowa

The Iowa City Press-Citizen has published a profile of Dan Craig, the new Warden of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center.

Craig, who joined IMCC in March after the death of warden Lowell Brandt, said he leads by example but also urges his employees to be leaders, too.  “I enjoy empowering my staff to do their job,” Craig said. “My focus is to try to develop them to be leaders.”

The focus on leadership is just one of many missions Craig has undertaken in his first month at the Oakdale facility, which is the clearinghouse for all of Iowa’s new inmates and many offenders in need of medical and psychiatric care. While Craig admits that overseeing the facility is a daunting task, he has the experience and know-how necessary for the job …

Craig’s career in corrections began in 1985 … [A]fter interning with his hometown Waterloo Police Department, Craig switched gears and went into corrections instead, working at a work release facility in Waterloo.During the next 20 years, Craig climbed the ladder in the corrections system. In 2000, he was appointed assistant deputy director of the Iowa Department of Corrections. Two years later, he was named district director for the First Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, and in 2004, he was appointed deputy director of the Western Region for the DOC …

Craig credits his success to always being a team player and looking out for his coworkers.”I look at corrections as a family,” he said. “We need to work together to accomplish our goals.”

After [warden Lowell] Brandt’s death in December 2008, Craig was tapped to step in as the new warden. Brandt left big shoes for Craig to fill. “Lowell was a great leader,” Craig said. “My goal would be to continue to improve on every area that I can at the facility. Our focus is to have successful offender re-entry in an effort to enhance public safety. This starts here at IMCC” …

IMCC deputy warden Greg Ort said Craig’s experience and leadership style have been well-received.  “Dan has his own leadership style,” Ort said. “He’s a person that invites dialogue. He’s willing to learn. He’s been very open to change.”

For Craig, his emphasis on promoting leadership from his staff is all part of improving the IMCC. “I want people to see the Iowa Medical and Classification Center as the best reception center in the country,” he said. “I believe that’s possible.”

vericatrajkova Iowa

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver wants the Legislature to give the Iowa Board of Parole expanded authority to continue to hold soon-to-be-paroled child-sex offenders behind bars after they have served prison sentences.  Reported by the Des Moines Register.

But the idea – crafted amid widespread public concern over the release of an offender who indicated he would molest children again if freed – is not likely constitutional, a spokesman for the Iowa attorney general’s office said Tuesday. One reason: Courts could deem that “preventive detention,” a concept that is illegal under state and federal law.  “We are doubtful this kind of measure can pass constitutional muster,” spokesman Bob Brammer said.

Culver’s plan, unveiled by his spokesman, Troy Price, in an e-mail to The Des Moines Register, would give state corrections officials authority to revoke parole without first releasing sex offenders – and keep them in prison for up to two more years …

The idea to revoke parole without ever having released a sex offender appears to be unprecedented across the country, according to some tracking of state laws done by the National Conference of State Legislatures … [However, m]ost states already have enhanced or expanded criminal penalties, mandatory reporting laws, restrictions controlling offenders’ movement and global-positioning technology to track their whereabouts …

Iowa is one of more than 30 states that have civil commitment facilities for sex offenders, but most of the state’s more than 6,000 registered offenders are ineligible to be sent there.   Before a person is civilly committed as a sexual predator, state law requires the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the person suffers from a mental abnormality that makes him likely to commit more sex crimes unless confined to a secure facility.
Legal experts say that’s a high legal burden to prove.

vericatrajkova Civil Commitment, Iowa, Probation and Parole, Sex Offenders

The Des Moines Register reports:

Iowa Corrections Director John Baldwin said Friday he has appointed John Fayram as warden of the Anamosa State Penitentiary, one of Iowa’s largest prisons with more than 1,200 inmates. Fayram had been Anamosa’s deputy warden.

Baldwin also appointed Dan Craig as warden of the state prison at Oakdale, which is near Iowa City. The Oakdale prison, officially known as the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, houses about 1,000 inmates and it serves as the reception center for all convicts entering Iowa’s prison system. Craig had been director of western Iowa operations for the Iowa Department of Corrections.

vericatrajkova Iowa

Inmates at the Des Moines County jail in Burlington IA may have to begin paying for toilet paper, according to the AP.

The county is facing a more than $1.7 million deficit in this year’s budget and the Board of Supervisors gave department heads the option of cutting costs or facing the possibility of unpaid furloughs or layoffs.  The county also is moving forward with a $1 million bond issue later this month, leaving department directors to make up the balance.   County Budget Director Cheryl McVey says billing inmates for toilet paper could save more than $2,300.

vericatrajkova Booking Fees, Economic Issues, IA Des Moines County

The director of the Iowa Department of Corrections says it would be a mistake to delay several prison construction projects, despite a $700-million shortfall in the state budget. Radio Iowa reports:

The state is borrowing $200-million to expand the Women’s institution at Mitchellville and replace the State Penitentiary at Fort Madison.   The money will also be used to build new community based corrections facilities in Ottumwa, Sioux City, and Waterloo. Prior to the legislative session some lawmakers proposed delaying construction, but D-O-C Director John Baldwin says there is a constitutional issue at stake. “(Prisons) must provide reasonable standards of housing and care,” Baldwin said. “Iowa’s been down that road once and lost that conversation in the early 1980s. We really, as a state, cannot go down that path.” Baldwin says if the state postpones construction and the courts intervene – it will cost taxpayers a lot more money in the long run …

Meanwhile, two key members of the Iowa legislature say they oppose selling farm land currently operated by the state’s prison system. Governor Culver has discussed selling the property in Fort Madison to help offset the state budget shortfall. But, Senator Gene Fraise, a Democrat from Fort Madison, says the short-term gain would not be enough to offset the loss of jobs and fresh produce the farms provide to the state’s prisons. “If we sold those farms off we would hurt the Prison Industries Program pretty dramatically,” Fraise said. “I would like to keep those farms and expand more on the vegetables and keep (prisoners) out in the fields working rather than sitting in cells.”

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Food Services, Iowa, Prison and Jail Construction