Articles Tagged: Iowa Department of Corrections

Iowa is donating 146 protective helmets and 714 ballistic vests to Ukraine. They are excess expired equipment from the Department of Public Safety and 18 other law enforcement agencies.

During debate of a $652 million appropriation for several departments covered by the justice systems appropriation, Democrats offered an amendment to address working conditions in Iowa prisons, where a correctional officer and nurse were murdered by inmates March 23, 2021.

The fiscal 2023 budget proposed by House Republicans represents a less than a 1 percent increase from the current $8.1 billion budget. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Senate Republicans have proposed spending just more than $8.2 billion, a 3.5 percent increase.

FERTILITY FRAUD: The House voted 90-5 to approve HF 2160 to establish a crime of fourth-degree sexual abuse when a …

Corrections Director Beth Skinner is seeking a $407.7 million general fund budget for the coming fiscal year, which, if approved, would be an increase from nearly $387 million in each of the previous two budget years.

Prison barbers don’t have a license when they cut other offenders’ hair and they often aren’t training under a licensed instructor, but barbering apprentices outside the prison system must have licensed instructors. One Des Moines barber says it’s not fair.

Two correctional officers were assaulted by an inmate Saturday night at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

With a change in Iowa law last year, Iowa barbershops are starting their own apprenticeship programs that allow would-be barbers to be paid while they learn from other barbers and through a state-approved curriculum. Some barbers say the state needs to provide more guidance to these new programs.

The Gazette did a Q&A with prison officials after a seven-month security review by an outside consultant. The public got to see a four-page summary of the 134-page report.

Complaints to the Iowa Ombudsman about unemployment claims tripled in fiscal 2021, with a large share coming from Iowans awarded jobless benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic and then later told they had to repay the money.

A seven-month security review of Iowa’s prison system shows overcrowding and challenges recruiting and retaining staff create potential security risks in Iowa’s nine prisons.

Prison “lifers” Denise Rhode, Gary Bear, Otis Jenkins and Jerry Osborn applied for commutation and cleared the first hurdle when the Iowa Board of Parole unanimously recommended the governor consider reducing their sentences to a period of years, making them potentially eligible for eventual release.

Homes for Iowa, started in 2019, aims to satisfy two of Iowa’s biggest needs — training workers for in-demand jobs and building affordable housing for Iowa communities. The program at the Newton Correctional Facility supports several apprenticeship programs for offenders.

Closures of wood and metal shops have dramatically reduced the opportunities for Anamosa offenders to participate in apprenticeships, shown to reduce recidivism and improve an ex-offender’s likelihood of getting a job on the outside.

Mitchell Stites got 2,200 hours of hair cutting experience as a barber in the Iowa Department of Corrections, using clippers -- no scissors or straight-edges allowed -- to do bald fades and trims to make the men incarcerated with him at Fort Dodge look and feel good.