The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

At the end of August 2007, Iowa had 347 female offenders' beds classified as minimum-security. Yet 742 female offenders were in the women's prisons in Mitchellville and Mount Pleasant. Mitchellville is the most overcrowded of our nine prisons, but many more of these women could exist in a minimum-security or residential setting. Thus, the need for more beds outside the walls is obvious.

There is no question that we should improve treatment in the prisons for the mentally ill and those with alcohol and drug needs. However, a prison is not the best setting for treatment.

As of Dec. 31, 2006, there were 3,535, mentally-ill inmates in our prisons. The total prison population is slightly more than 8,600 people. A significant number also have substance-abuse problems, though some, undoubtedly, are mentally-ill inmates who self-medicated with alcohol or drugs.

Most inmates come from our urban areas. Therefore, the Iowa Department of Corrections' proposed expansion of residential facilities would be built in the community-based corrections facilities near large cities. The department also proposes that a minimum-security facility be built outside the wall at Mitchellville, which would significantly reduce the overcrowding.

The recommendation for a new maximum-security prison at Fort Madison is not unreasonable. On the contrary, the incredibly bad living conditions inside the walls at Fort Madison are, in my judgment, inhumane. The prison is so antiquated that pouring money into it to try to rehabilitate it is foolish. A new prison would be designed to improve security and provide a decent environment for the inmates.

People should keep in mind that many of the inmates in Fort Madison will eventually be released, and a case could be made that they will come out worse than they went in given the environment there. This is not to take anything away from the staff at Fort Madison. They do a good job under very difficult circumstances.

What the Register and interested citizens should truly be concerned about is the position, taken by some, that we should build a new prison at Fort Madison and then keep the old one operational, since department officials believe the increase in the prison population will be so great as to justify two maximum-security institutions.

The Durrant study of our prisons concluded that it would be more expensive to rehabilitate the existing prison at Fort Madison than to build a new maximum-security facility there. I believe that putting large sums of money into the existing prison is akin to dumping money down a sinkhole.

We can reduce our prison population by repealing a number of the mandatory-minimum sentences. I would prefer some inconsistency in sentences by judges rather than a "one-sentence-fits-all" mentality inherent in mandatory-minimum sentences. Such action would have to be bipartisan because elected officials who support the repeal of these laws are vulnerable to the charge of being "weak on crime."

Because of Iowa's relatively small population and relatively small prison population, we could be a leader in penal reform. The 8,600 in our nine prisons and the 26,000-plus in community-based corrections facilities are low numbers compared to most other states. The community-based corrections facilities have diverted many people away from the prisons, and there is a strong need for additional residential facilities near large cities.

ART NEU is former lieutenant governor and a member of the Iowa Board of Corrections.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071002/OPINION03/710020362/1035/OPINION