Lawsuit: Iowa parole board made illegal decisions

A former Iowa Board of Parole member is suing the state, Gov. Kim Reynolds and a former chair, alleging the board made illegal decisions to release people from prison.

Kathleen Kooiker, of Osceola, who served on the board from 2018 to 2021, said in the lawsuit she was wrongfully discharged from the paid position when she complained to the governor about former chair Helen Miller’s decision to let alternate board members make parole decisions.

“Over the objections of Plaintiff and other board members, Defendant Miller continued to assign and authorize payment to individuals from the pool of three alternate members to substitute for Miller and other salaried and per diem board members in parole hearings when board members were available for those hearings,” according to Kooiker’s lawsuit filed in Polk County. “Defendant Miller continued this practice, contrary to Iowa Code 904A.2A, throughout fiscal years 2020 and 2021.”

Kooiker by Gazetteonline on Scribd

The board has five regular members and three alternates. Iowa Code Chapter 90 requires at least one regular board member be involved in all parole decisions.

Miller, a former state representative from Fort Dodge, told her fellow members after she was appointed in July 2019 she did not plan to participate in parole decisions and instead would be in a “public relations position,” the suit states. That decision made the board short staffed when hearing parole cases, Kooiker said.

Miller assigned decisions to panels with no regular board members, causing Kooiker and other board members to complain, the lawsuit states.

Miller told the Des Moines Register, which reported on the lawsuit, she did not wish to comment for the article.

Kooiker took her concerns to John Lundquist, an attorney with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, who instructed her to call the Department of Corrections and stop those parole proceedings and explain what happened, the suit states.

Miller refused to tell the Corrections Department or the parolees about the error and instead ordered vice-chair Norm Granger to help her retroactively add their votes to the decisions made by the illegal panels, the suit states.

Kooiker wrote to Reynolds in July 2020 to report Miller’s alleged actions, but did not hear back. Reynolds did not reappoint Kooiker when Kooiker’s term expired in 2021, despite reappointment being common among other board members, the suit states. Kooiker again wrote to Reynolds in March 2021, but there was no response.

Kooiker is asking the court to require the state to pay her damages equivalent at least to three times the annual wages and benefits she received as a board member. Kooiker’s salary for fiscal 2020 was $84,365.

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