Lag in paroles fueled record prison inmate population

The head of Iowa's prison system said Monday that the inmate population topped 9,000 for the first time ever due to a “perfect storm” last year when three members left the Iowa Board of Parole in close proximity, causing an imbalance in the number of lower-risk offenders that were being released to offset the new admissions.

John Baldwin, director of the state Department of Corrections, said the number of prisoners housed at Iowa's nine prisons increased from about 8,200 in early 2010 to a record 9,009 inmate count on Saturday - an offender population that exceeded the current design capacity of 7,209 beds by 25 percent. Monday's inmate count stood at 9,001.

Baldwin said “Iowa has always been a release-driven system” that has worked “very, very well” in balancing releases and admissions, but the process broke down when the parole board temporarily went from five members to two because it takes three votes to release a minimum-security offender, four to release a medium-security inmate and five to release someone from maximum security. Gov. Terry Branstad this year appointed three new members who were confirmed by the Iowa Senate, but Baldwin said it takes time for the new members to “get up to speed” and feel comfortable about releasing offenders from incarceration into Iowa communities.

“I know the governor and the Legislature are deeply committed to getting us back down to 8,200,” Baldwin said during an Iowa Public Radio interview show.

Baldwin's comments came on a day when a co-leader of a legislative budget panel that funds Iowa's correctional facilities expressed concern that a protracted budget impasse could adversely impact the state's prison system.

“We are on the verge of going from failing to pay bills owed to hundreds of Iowa small businesses to endangering the lives of the prison guards who keep us safe,” Sen. Tom Hancock, D-Epworth, co-chairman of the House-Senate budget subcommittee on justice systems, said in a statement issued Monday. “It is time to put the needs of Iowans first.”

Hancock noted that staffing levels within the state Department of Corrections have been falling, from 3,064 in fiscal 2009 to the current level of 2,820. He said he was concerned Iowa's prisons could be impacted if the split-control Legislature and Branstad cannot reach agreements on supplemental funding to finish the current fiscal year or state spending levels for the fiscal 2012 budget year.

A supplemental appropriations bill that includes more than $14 million to operate the state's correctional facilities through June 30 has stalled in a House-Senate conference committee. Other funding in that measure would cover a backlog of unpaid bills owed to attorneys and public defenders which provide legal services for indigent defendants.

“Unless we get this job done, Iowa's state prisons will run out of money at the end of May and prison employees will be laid off,” Hancock said. “I'm concerned that the lack of basic agreement between Gov. Branstad and the Republican leaders of the Iowa House that is preventing the state from paying its bills with regard to indigent defense will also affect the operation of our prisons. It is time for both sides to settle their differences and get serious about governing.”

Branstad said the issue dates back to action taken in January by former Gov. Chet Culver to comply with a legislative directive that he cut $84 million in state spending – which mostly hit budget areas where agencies saw a higher level of early retirements. He said he viewed the Legislature's decision to delegate that to the governor was a “mistake” that represented “inappropriate” budget management that he is determined to correct beginning this session.

He told reporters at this weekly news conference Monday that he proposed more than $46 million in supplemental spending for the current fiscal year in areas of indigent defense, corrections and mental health services because ““I felt an obligation to do all we can to protect the health and safety of our citizens.”

Last week, Baldwin said he would like to see the $14 million in supplemental money earmarked to his agency yet this fiscal year sooner rather than later. He said the supplemental money would ensure his agency can keep its current staffing levels and fiscal 2012 plans put forward by Branstad and legislators could fund up to 43 new correctional officers next fiscal year.

The largest state employees' union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 61, has urged state officials to “get serious” about addressing staffing issues at the state's prisons.