Paulsen calls for Legislature to investigate prison construction delays

DES MOINES - The speaker of the Iowa House has called for a legislative investigation into delays in the opening of a new maximum security prison.

'I'm absolutely hearing from people” on the construction problems that have delayed for months the opening of the $132 million prison, Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said Monday, the first day of the 20156 legislative session.

The 800-inmate Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison was supposed to open this spring but remains under construction and the Department of Corrections doesn't know when it will be completed.

'That just sounds like that has been one bad decision after another. We need to find out what in the world is going on,” Paulsen said.

In his opening day remarks to the House, Paulsen said he wanted state government to do less and do it better.

'We can all agree that one area government needs to do better is in the building of our new state prison,” he said. 'Not only has the opening of the prison been delayed for several months, there still is no move-in date set.

'The taxpayers of Iowa paid for this new facility, it is up to us to oversee their money is being spent appropriately,” Paulsen said. He has directed House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, to investigate the delays.

Kaufmann agreed it is 'unacceptable” the prison, which is supposed to replace a 176-year-old prison, isn't open. Problems have included a geothermal heating system that doesn't work, a floor that had to be ripped out and now a HVAC system that isn't acceptable.

'There's too many problems and too many dollars wasted,” Kaufmann said.

Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mount Pleasant, isn't sure anything will come of the investigation.

'No one will admit they were at fault,” said Taylor, who worked at the current Fort Madison penitentiary as a HVAC technician for 28 years.

He expects the blame will be placed on the general contractor that has declared bankruptcy.

'So the scapegoat is a company that is in default,” Taylor said. 'They'll ride that horse to the end.”

The $132 million appropriation during Democratic Gov. Chet Culver's administration was appropriate, but costs have escalated, Taylor said. He believes that rather than come back to the Legislature to ask for more money, contractors were told to 'cheap it out.”

Senate Government Oversight Committee Chairman Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, said he will be 'very deliberative” in deciding whether to participate in the investigation.

'I think it sounds like something Iowans want to know. I want to know,” he said about the delays and costs associated with the new prison.

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