Officials launch security review for Iowa prisons after weekend escape

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday state corrections officials have launched a 'total review” of security procedures at an Iowa State Penitentiary medical unit where an inmate managed to flee the Fort Madison facility before being caught in Illinois in an escape episode the Iowa governor called 'absolutely stupid.”

Justin Kestner, 25, an inmate serving a 10-year sentence from Woodbury County for convictions on two counts of first-degree theft, was apprehended just south of Geneseo, Ill., Sunday by Illinois State Police after he was discovered missing during a 4:45 a.m. head count at the John Bennett medical unit at the state penitentiary. The inmate reportedly stole a car in nearby Wever and made it about 100 miles before his capture midmorning Sunday.

During his weekly meeting with reporters, Branstad said authorities were 'very fortunate” to be able to capture the fugitive within half a day, and he thanked law enforcement officers in Iowa and Illinois who played a role in the apprehension.

'This is an individual that I think was pretty ingenious in what he came up with - I guess most prison escapes are,” Branstad said in discussing the incident, 'but it's stupid, absolutely stupid when you're on a 10-year sentence to escape prison. You end up being dead or serving a lot longer period of time, so prison escapes are not smart things to do.”

Officials with the state Department of Corrections and the Iowa State Penitentiary expected to comment on the escape incident Monday afternoon, but Branstad told reporters there would be a 'total” state review of the circumstances surrounding how Kestner managed to escape and how to prevent similar incidents at a facility that last had an escape in 2005.

'From what I've heard and what he did is he had like 67 feet of bed sheets that he used as kind of a rope, which is an unbelievable amount, and then he also crawled through a very narrow area that's supposed to be too small for a person to crawl through,” the governor said.

'The point I would make is it didn't do him any good,” Branstad added. 'Instead of serving 10 years, he's going to serve a longer period of time now. Prison escapes usually are foolhardy things. We saw what happened in New York and we certainly aren't aware of any staff involvement in this whatsoever.”

Branstad said he believes there are adequate staffing levels and he expects prison officials will be in a position to move inmates from the current penitentiary in late summer or early fall to a newly built Fort Madison facility that has been plagued with construction-related problems that have delayed the opening of the new prison.