Branstad should support Treatment Facility funding

By The Sioux City Journal

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Among the many positive steps taken by the Iowa Legislature this year was providing funding to staff the $5.3 million addition to the Iowa Department of Corrections Residential Treatment Facility at 515 Water St.

The addition has been empty since it was completed and dedicated last year because the Legislature didn't appropriate money for staff for this fiscal year.

However, the Department of Corrections budget approved by state lawmakers for the next fiscal year contains $867,000 for 14 new positions at the local facility.

The Residential Treatment Facility houses prison inmates who have been granted parole and work release and offenders sentenced to stay there while serving probation. The 42-bed addition was designed to reduce the list of offenders who are waiting for facility beds (the current waiting list includes more than 50 people).

Goals for the facility are commendable - to house inmates at lower cost and reduce recidivism by assimilating inmates back into society. In other words, the facility makes budget sense and provides local and state value through the rehabilitation of offenders and the reduction of crime.

Before staff positions for the new addition can be filled, Gov. Terry Branstad must sign the Judicial Systems budget, which includes funding for the Department of Corrections. Earlier this month, Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said the governor will "take a close look at it" before making a decision on the budget.

We encourage Branstad to follow the Legislature's lead and support what should have been done last year.

The state should provide money to staff what it spent millions to build. Only then can our community and Iowa reap the full benefits of the Residential Treatment Facility.