Iowa paroles up, but new offenders increase only slightly

More Iowa offenders are being released under parole, which provides safety to communities, and parole revocation rates remain low with only 8 percent returning to prison in 2013, according to prison population statistics released Thursday.

Lettie Prell, Iowa Department of Corrections director of research, said the revocations only increased by 45 offenders from fiscal year 2012 to 2013 and the parole releases increased by 466 offenders, for a total of 2,490 in 2013. The high for parole releases since 1980 had been in 2005, with 2,384.

“This is a good indication that we have a working parole board that is releasing more prisoners who are being supervised and monitored, not just released to the streets (without supervision) - which only enhances public safety,” Prell said Thursday.

Jason Carlstrom, Iowa Board of Parole administrator, said the board members are utilizing more evidence based risk assessment tools and other programming alternatives that might be available for offenders to be successful on parole.

"We are also using a risk assessment tool that (accurately) predicts violence in an offender," Carlstrom said.

Prell said another positive trend is the increase in overall prison admissions, which remain low with 5,030, a 1 percent increase, from 2012 with 4,982, and a 2.5 percent decrease in prison releases, which leads to an overall drop of 259 inmates in 2013. Prell said that number seems confusing, but there was a large drop from 2011 to 12 of 445 inmates, which affects that number.

Looking back over the years, admissions started increasing in 2003 when it went from 5,542 to 6,252, and then continued to increase with a high of 6,408 in 2006 before dropping. The next significant drop was in 2009 to 2010 when admissions went down 736 inmates.

The total prison population as of Thursday was 8,123, according to the Department of Corrections.

Prell said inmates placed out on work release decreased in 2013 for the first time in several years, which could be partly a result from a risk evaluation conducted by Iowa Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning of residential facilities around the state and how low risk offenders perform in those facilities.

The study completed in July 2012 revealed lower risk offenders placed in more structured, controlled environments, like residential centers, do worse than low risk offenders who are put on street supervision, Prell said. The results of the study were given to corrections officials and parole board members, as another guide for them.

Carlstrom said the board has attempted to place offenders on work release who don't have any other resources to help them when they are paroled. There was a time when the waiting list for a work release or residential facility was nine months to a year, so the board has tried to remedy that by placing those with the greatest need.

"Some people have a parent or families who can provide them with a home to live or they (offender) are capable of working on their own," Carlstrom said.

Carlstrom said the decrease in work release could also be a result of less offenders qualifying for release, because every day, month and year brings a different group of offenders to the board.