Fewer people being sent back to Iowa’s prisons on repeat offenses, although experts caution against data

DES MOINES — The rate of individuals in Iowa who were released from incarceration and then sent back to prison within three years decreased by 3 percent in the most recent data and reached a 10-year low, according to state figures.

Experts on criminal justice and incarceration said that while those numbers signal some good news, they also paint an incomplete picture of a state’s corrections or criminal justice system and can be influenced by multiple factors that have nothing to do with public safety.

Recidivism is defined by the percentage of formerly incarcerated individuals who after being released are reincarcerated within three years. A lower rate of recidivism means fewer incarcerated individuals are returning to prison, which generally is viewed as a positive development.

Iowa’s recidivism rate decreased 3 percent for the 2022 to 2025 state budget years, and the 32.8 percent recidivism rate at the end of that period was the lowest such mark in 10 years, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

A DOC press release highlighted that the state’s recidivism rate has steadily declined under its current director, Beth Skinner, who started on the job in 2019, when the rate was 38.9 percent.

“This milestone reflects the strength of Iowa’s strategic vision for public safety and reentry, championed through Gov. (Kim) Reynolds’ leadership and the alignment of our state agencies,” Skinner said in a statement in the DOC press release.

“I am incredibly proud of the dedicated staff across our prison facilities, community-based corrections, and central office who bring this vision to life every day, and I want to recognize the commitment of our staff who are changing lives for those under our supervision and making our communities safer,” Skinner said. “Together, we are proving that accountability and opportunity can go hand-in-hand, and that Iowa can be a national leader in reducing recidivism and creating safer communities.”

Multiple national experts on criminal justice reform and recidivism cautioned that while the state numbers generally can be viewed as positive, recidivism rates are limited in what they say about a state’s corrections department or criminal justice system.

“It’s definitely a good thing that the rate is going down. It means that there are fewer people having to return to incarceration after having experienced it,” said Nazgol Ghandnoosh, director of research for The Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for “effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.”

Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit organization that produces research “to expose the broader harm of mass criminalization,” said Iowa’s 10-year-low recidivism rate of 32.8 percent puts it roughly in the middle of the pack of U.S. states.

“Iowa’s historic reduction in recidivism is a direct reflection of what can be accomplished when agencies work together toward a shared vision of safer communities,” Reynolds said in the DOC press release. “Through the leadership of Dir. Skinner and the dedicated staff at the Department of Corrections, incarcerated individuals are held accountable and also provided with opportunities for rehabilitation and successful reentry. This achievement demonstrates the power of collaboration and our continued commitment to public safety for every Iowan.”

Despite that reduction in the rate of recidivism, Iowa’s prisons remain overpopulated. As of Thursday, the state’s nine prisons were overcrowded by 21.4 percent: there were 8,489 individuals in Iowa prisons, which have an official total capacity of 6,990.

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Limitations of recidivism data

Recidivism rates can be influenced by myriad factors, including public safety policy, and lowering rates do not necessarily mean a reduction in crime, experts said.

“This may indicate that there is less of that from the individuals that are returning to their communities after incarceration. But I say ‘may’ because it’s unclear if that’s what this measure actually means,” Ghandnoosh said. “That’s because people who have done a lot of research on recidivism numbers have issued a lot of warnings that when you look at recidivism, you’re not just looking at a simple measure of criminal behavior and it’s not a simple measure of rehabilitation. Instead, it’s this package of both the individual’s actions and the system response to it.”

For example, Ghandnoosh said, recidivism rates may lower because of policy changes like no longer reincarcerating individuals for missing an appointment related to their probation or parole — a policy for which criminal justice reform advocates push.

“That’s a good thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a significant change in the individual’s behavior. It means that we’ve improved our policies on when we’re relying on incarceration,” Ghandnoosh said. “So it’s hard to know whether this reduction in recidivism is because of changes in policies that are reducing unnecessary use of incarceration, or if it’s because of changes in individuals’ behavior.”

Ghandnoosh compared the uncertainty of recidivism data to that of police arrest figures.

“Arrest numbers can change because of changes in behavior, or it can change because of changes in police policies,” Ghandnoosh said. “But with recidivism figures, it’s even more so the case because people return to community supervision a lot of times and what happens and what the rules are on probation and parole supervision have a big impact.”

Advocates: Don’t reincarcerate over technical violations

Marc Levin, the chief policy counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice, a criminal justice membership organization and think tank, said ideally state data would break out which occur because of new criminal convictions and which occur because of technical violations. Policy-wise, Levin said some states have “graduated sanctions” under which a technical violation — like missing a parole or probation appointment — does not result in reincarceration.

According to Iowa Department of Corrections data, the recidivism rate resulting from new criminal charges as of 2024 was 21.2 percent, while the rate resulting from technical violations was 14.7 percent.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative’s data, 466 people in Iowa in 2023 were imprisoned for technical violations, Bertram said.

The Iowa Department of Corrections, according to the press release, has “enhanced its review processes for revocations to ensure that only those who truly needed to return to prison were revoked, while others could be safely managed in the community.” Iowa DOC also has implemented “a structured response matrix … to guide decision-making, equipping staff with evidence-based options that balanced accountability with opportunities for rehabilitation.”

The Iowa DOC credits the state’s reduced recidivism rate with those policies.

“We are advocates for criminal justice reform,” Bertram said, “and reform of parole and probation supervision is one of our key policy positions. So I think that the Iowa DOC’s efforts to reduce revocations should be commended.”

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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