The bad news is that Iowa is facing a correctional crisis as the prison population rose by 800 inmates to 9,000 since last year, the same time the number of correctional officers dipped to a number that has inmates outnumbering officers almost six to one. Add to that, Iowa’s prisons are running 25% over capacity, and 40% of the state’s inmates have been diagnosed with some form of mental illness.
Most people believe that prisons are overcrowded because more people are being convicted, but there are other factors that come into play. Parole boards play an important role in keeping prisons operating at, or below, capacity. Parole board members have control over who stays in prison, and who gets released. One of the reasons that the Iowa prison system is running over capacity is that inmates who are eligible to be paroled are stuck in prison because three out of five parole board members all left their positions in around the same time. With more members to be appointed, the parole board can cut the logjam of parole applications, and get more inmates out the door.
While the supplemental funding Governor Terry Branstad is seeking may not be considered a good thing by many, the money will used, in part, to avoid laying off prison staff. While the situation may seem bleak, the governor is not without optimism. The recidivism rate in Iowa is approximately 32%, a figure the governor finds more encouraging than the 39% of a decade ago, and the 43% national average reported by the Pew Center on the States. The Iowa Department of Corrections will use up to $2 million from a grant to aid serious and violent offenders aged 15-35 to receive aid with housing, employment, mental health/substance abuse treatment, family reunification and mentoring. Iowa has already implemented successful reentry programs, which have had a direct effect on dropping the recidivism rate to 32%.
The spotlight on the number of inmates with mental illness has caused the state to reevaluate the way mental health issues are being addressed. The hope is that the state will treat mentally ill individuals, rather than incarcerating them.
Source: Iowa Public Radio
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