Sixth Correctional District questions staffing stiff

IOWA CITY - The 6th District of the Department of Correctional Services is questioning why the state corrections' budget proposal stiffs the Cedar Rapids-based district of any new correctional officers.

The Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) plans to ask the Iowa Legislature for 58 new positions for community-based corrections in fiscal 2016 and 2017, but none are allocated for the 6th District, Iowa's second-largest.

'We were startled to see that the 6th had the fourth-greatest need, yet we were blanked,” said Allan Thoms, chairman of the district's board of directors.

The board wrote a letter to the DOC board last fall voicing concern about the budget proposal, expected to go before state lawmakers in coming weeks.

'If the DOC Board approves the current budget request and future funding follows the DOC recommendation, the 6th DCS will face staffing challenges and budget issues in FY17 that will negatively impact its ability to provide continued community safety and offender success,” the local board wrote.

The letter includes a chart breaking down the statewide need for correctional officers based on workload. Iowa has eight districts that oversee probation and parole, as well as other community-based programming. The 6th district, which includes Linn, Johnson, Jones, Iowa, Benton and Tama counties, has 10.6 percent of the statewide need for new positions, according to the chart.

This puts the district fourth in line behind the 5th District in south-central Iowa, 2nd District in north-central Iowa and 8th in southeast Iowa. Community-based corrections leaders presented these same numbers to the DOC board in June.

The DOC will recommend the 5th District get 26 new positions in fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017. The 8th would get 10 and the 2nd would get 6. The 6th district is the only state district that would get no new officers.

'The numbers we had did not support, in our minds, adding positions (in the 6th) at this time,” Department of Corrections Director John Baldwin said Wednesday. 'The 6th District has a lot of staff compared to what other districts have.”

Baldwin pointed to data showing the 6th district gets 16.7 percent of the budget for community-based corrections, but oversees only 13.5 percent of state felons under supervision.

The staffing recommendations could change for Fiscal 2017, Baldwin said. 'They haven't gotten totally excluded yet.”

Relations between the DOC and the 6th District haven't always been smooth.

Former District Director Gary Hinzman circumvented Baldwin in 2006 to get funding for the Anchor Center, a residential facility for parolees and probationers with mental illness. Baldwin has said he was blindsided by the proposal.

'Imagine my surprise when I got called over and asked why the governor didn't put the Anchor Center in his budget,” Baldwin told correctional services staff in February. 'What the heck is the Anchor Center?”

Baldwin was also critical of the district in January 2014 when the State Auditor released a report showing $776,000 in improper disbursements by the district from fiscal years 2009 through 2012. Most of this money came from district managers spending part of their time on duties connected to a corrections-supported non-profit founded by Hinzman.

Baldwin, who plans to retire Jan. 29, said the 2016 and 2017 staffing recommendations are not personal. The DOC will present its budget to the Justice System Appropriations Subcommittee.