Iowa Gov. Branstad proposes public safety changes

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad said Tuesday he favors eliminating good-behavior sentence reductions for violent sexual predators and allowing electronic tracking for sex offenders who are under no-contact orders from the court.

The five-term Republican who is seeking re-election in November also told a Des Moines business group he hopes the Legislature next year will agree to designate one or more private nursing home facilities to receive higher state reimbursement if they agree to house potentially dangerous sex offenders in locations that are secured from other occupants.

Currently, some inmates are subject to earned time provisions that accrue 1.2 days for each day served without a disciplinary problem which become credits against prison time served in shortening the length of their sentences. Branstad said Tuesday he would like to see that option eliminated for offenders convicted as sexual predators – an issue that failed to gain legislative approval last session.

'If they fall into the category of being a violent sexual predator, they would not be eligible for good and honor time,” the governor said. 'I'm hopeful that we can find a way to get that done because I think it could prevent tragedies like we had with the young woman from Dayton.”

Branstad was referring to a situation in May 2013 where a Stratford man freed from prison abducted two girls and killed one of the victims, Kathlynn Shepard, 15, before hanging himself. Michael Klunder had been sentenced to 41 years in prison for kidnapping, but he was awarded time off for good behavior behind bars and released in 2011 after completing his incarceration.

'I believe that for somebody who is clearly a violent sexual predator that they ought to be able to deny good time and honor time for that person and require them to serve out their whole sentence,” he said.

Branstad also said he favors giving judges more discretion to require electronic surveillance in cases where somebody is accused of stalking or domestic abuse in Iowa and is subject to a no-contact order. He said at least 19 other states have such provisions.

'I think it makes sense to have GPS tracking of people that have a no-contact order,” the governor said.

'One of the big tragedies that we've had occur is when somebody that's had a no-contact order violates it and then murders their estranged spouse or partner or whatever,” he added. 'This would be a way to make sure that you knew where they were and that they were not violating the no-contact order.”

In response to a question from a Greater Des Moines Partnership forum participant, Branstad said he would favor legislation to designate a particular nursing home or facility to provide care for dangerous people who have a history of sexual offense without co-mingling them with other vulnerable residents.

'The problem has been that some judges have placed certain people in nursing homes and it's jeopardized the safety and well-being of the other people in those nursing homes,” he said.

'We need to have some kind of a facility for those people that are out of the corrections system and yet are people that may be deemed for a nursing-home type environment but yet should not be in the same nursing home as some other folks,” Branstad added.