Articles Tagged: Iowa Department of Corrections

A state request for proposals sheds lights on the reasons why Iowa is considering privatizing its prison health care services, potentially entering an arena that has faced issues in other states, according to advocates.

According to an email sent by the Department of Corrections, the state will issue a request for proposals “soon” to seek a private company to provide health care services in the state’s prisons, potentially impacting roughly 200 nurses, psychiatrists and other corrections health care workers.

A sharply divided Iowa Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s decision dismissing a former prisoner’s claim for damages due to wrongful imprisonment.

Also in the Capitol Notebook, a new warden has been named for Iowa State Penitentiary.

A state corrections officer fired for allegedly assaulting an individual at the state-run Ottumwa Residential Facility is not entitled to jobless benefits, a judge has ruled.

A former Johnson County emergency management and fire official who was serving a prison sentence for fatally shooting his girlfriend in 2011, died last week. Thomas Lee Hansen Sr., 84, died Jan. 22.

Reynolds issued the order just days ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged hard-line immigration policies and mass deportations.

Union leaders called on the state officials to provide more funding, better pay and more staffing as well as restore bargaining rights to correctional officers in the wake of the latest inmate attack at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.

Union officials say 2 correctional officers at Iowa State Penitentiary were “violently attacked” Monday by an inmate during a routine procedure. The correctional officers across the state are being asked to work in dangerous and understaffed conditions, officials said.

The Iowa Department of Corrections on Tuesday confirmed it is responding to cases of the highly contagious viral disease Mpox at a state prison.

The penalty stems from a lawsuit that 13 prison inmates, then housed at the Anamosa State Penitentiary, filed in 2018. The inmates alleged the state was violating their constitutional rights by denying them access to magazines or other materials with nudity or sexually explicit content.

Access to books and other publications is “crucial” for giving incarcerated people a chance at future success, library advocates say. But rules and policies that are in place to keep prisons secure can restrict the materials available to prisoners, either by controlling which content is allowed, or how books must enter facilities.

How does someone who is serving a life sentence pay restitution when most jobs available for prisoners in Iowa pay less than $1 an hour? The short answer is they usually don’t, at least not in full.

Kris Karberg, warden of the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, resigned earlier this month, just six months after starting the job.

Bruce Vander Sanden, director of the 6th Judicial District community correctional services, retired this week after a 35-year career. He hopes the department will continue his vision of focusing on the positive outcomes, instead of recidivism rates.