The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

"The prison is just a fact of life in Mitchellville," said Kerri Fink, a longtime resident who was playing with his 18-month-old grandson, Brock, outside his home here this week. Having inmates residing about two blocks south of his house "is not a problem or a concern at all. They have to have a place to live," he added.

The size of the state women's prison here could increase to hold nearly 1,000 inmates under a consultant's plan that will be discussed today by the Iowa Board of Corrections in Des Moines. The Durrant Group of Dubuque has recommended spending $47 million to replace older buildings and to expand the Mitchellville facility as part of more than $250 million in short-term improvements to Iowa's prison system. Over the long term, an additional $90 million would be spent to upgrade the aging Anamosa State Penitentiary.

The consultant's proposal would consolidate all of the women in Iowa's prisons at Mitchellville. A 100-bed women's prison unit now at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility would be moved here, along with the state women's prison reception center, which is now at the Oakdale state prison. The construction at Mitchellville initially would include new facilities for 320 inmates to replace outdated buildings, followed by a second phase to provide space for an additional 192 women. The state expects to have 988 women behind bars by June 2016, up 29 percent from 766 women now incarcerated.

The female prison population growth is a reflection of women entering Iowa's prisons at a faster rate than men, partly because of an increasing number of convictions for drug crimes.

When state officials went ahead in 1982 with plans to convert the old Iowa Women's Reformatory in Rockwell City to a prison for men and to move female inmates to Mitchellville, there was trepidation among many residents here. Some people complained that property values would plunge, public safety would be jeopardized, and prison visitors would stir up trouble.

Mitchellville Mayor David Wieslander and Police Chief Charlie Sickels said this week that none of those fears has been realized.

"We get along fine" with the prison, Wieslander said. "It's part of the community, whether you like it or not."

The prison is surrounded by a tall metal fence topped with razor wire, and state correctional officers do an excellent job of providing security, Sickels said. About the only contact that most Mitchellville residents have with visitors is to occasionally provide them with directions to the prison, he added.

Only a handful of the 192 prison employees live in Mitchellville; most reside in Des Moines and other area communities. The prison's annual operating budget is $15.4 million.

Nicole Hale of Altoona has a 3-year-old daughter, Jordan Avon, who attends a Head Start program at Mitchellville Elementary School, just a couple of blocks north of the prison. Before enrolling her daughter, she said, she drove around the prison and didn't see anything alarming. Security at the school is tight, and Hale said she has no worries about inmates fleeing the prison and heading to the school.

State Sen. Eugene Fraise, a Fort Madison Democrat, said he considers the need for improvements at the Mitchellville prison to be the state's top priority, even more important than constructing a new maximum-security prison at Fort Madison.

The existing Mitchellville prison - formerly a state training school for girls - suffers from overcrowding and antiquated facilities that need to be replaced, state officials said.

"The women's situation is really critical, and we have a lot more women coming to prison,," Fraise said. He expects lawmakers to make decisions on prison construction in the 2008 session.

Dorothy Pickett, 62, of Des Moines, who was paroled from the Mitchellville prison in November on a robbery conviction, is skeptical of the expansion plans.

While she praised some of the prison staff for their kindness, she said the institution lacks quality programs to prepare inmates for lives outside of prison.

She also noted that many inmates suffer from mental illness, drug addiction or both. She contends existing treatment programs aren't sufficient. "They call it a place for rehabilitation, but they don't rehabilitate you," Pickett said.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/NEWS10/7041
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