Law provides for basics, but jail amenities vary by location

Dominick Marcott, behind bars for his third drunken driving charge, found grave injustice in a simple rule at the Cedar County Jail in Tipton: Inmates aren't allowed to read the newspaper.

“I believe that this is a direct violation of our rights to radio, press, etc., and our First Amendment rights,” Marcott wrote in a letter to The Gazette.

Marcott's complaint - regardless of whether it's justified - highlights the wide variety of rules and amenities in jails in Eastern Iowa. If you spend time at any of them, you'd better be flexible.

Iowa law requires that jails be clean and sanitary and that prisoners get bedding, three “wholesome” meals per day, clothing, towels, basic medical care and access to clean water. Inmates must get two hours each week to exercise outside their cells and must have access to “a reasonable quantity and variety of reading material.”

Everything else is up to the jail administrator.

[quote]

None of the Eastern Iowa jails The Gazette surveyed allows inmates to get subscriptions while they're in jail, but many make periodicals available. Cedar County is among the strictest jails.

“We don't allow anybody to have any newspapers or magazines,” said Cedar County Jail administrator Jenny Tholen. “I've seen them make weapons out of toilet paper, so I can only imagine what they would do with a newspaper or magazine.”

Clayton County Sheriff Mike Tschirgi doesn't allow candy or soft drinks. He said inmates were throwing trash in the toilets, and inmates were “bouncing off the walls” from the sugar.

Linn County, the second-largest jail in Iowa behind Polk County, has a commissary where inmates can buy candy, chips, shampoo, soap, socks and dozens of other items. Proceeds from sales pay for subscriptions to the newspaper for each cell block, workout equipment and televisions with minimal cable on each cell block.

Many of the newer jails - in Clayton, Cedar and Iowa counties, for example - have large recreation rooms where inmates can stretch their legs. Cedar County has a ping-pong table. Iowa County has a regulation-size basketball hoop.

Iowa County provides reverse ATMs in the lobby and booking area, so inmates can deposit money into a commissary account. Once behind bars, they can call a toll-free number to make a weekly order from a company that runs the commissary for the jail.

“They actually can use the same system to pay jail stay fees and even bond themselves out if they have to,” Iowa County Sheriff Robert Rotter said.

The commissary proceeds pay for cots, mattresses and television sets. Each cell block has a TV, and the inmates get three visits per week to the jail's gymnasium. Sometimes, Rotter said, inmates even request to come to the Iowa County Jail. If the judge OKs it and the jail has space, Rotter honors the request.

Older jails like that in Delaware County, which is well into its fifth decade of existence and has a capacity of about 12, don't offer quite as many amenities. Inmates can walk around in the recreation room and use a couple of pieces of exercise equipment, but the commissary doesn't offer candy bars - just soft drinks, Gatorade and chips.

“Some of these guys,” Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere said, “don't need the sugar high.”