Newton prison may get additional funding

Throughout 2011, the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) has struggled with state legislative appropriators on the proper funding levels for Iowa’s nine government operated prisons. But a supplemental appropriations bill making its way through the general assembly, which could add $8.5 million to the department’s 2012 fiscal year budget, cleared a hurdle Wednesday when the Iowa Senate passed the measure 26-23.

Supported by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, Senate File 2071 passed on a nearly party-line vote with mostly Democratic support. The maximum security facility in Fort Madison would see the largest funding increase, receiving $1.5 million. The Newton Correctional Facility (NCF) will see $642,000 more, which will be allocated primarily to staffing. Newton Warden Terry Mapes said that without the additional dollars the facility would be forced to either run a deficit or cut personnel.

“To maintain the staffing levels we have we need that supplemental appropriations bill to get us to July 1,” Mapes said. “Hopefully it rolls over to the 2013 fiscal year.”

NCF currently has 262 employees and is exceeding inmate capacity by 15 percent. The facility’s director said in an interview Thursday that in the last several years as employee left for retirement or transfer the position was forced to be left unfilled because of budget shortfalls. Branstad is recommending that the budget increases become permanent in the 2013 state budget.

“We’ve got some really dedicated staff that are doing more with less every day,” Mapes said.

Mapes explained that the additional funds will not allow the prison to hire new correctional officers, but will mitigate any future cuts which facility officials said in September could jeopardize the safety of NCF employees and inmates alike.

The DOC currently has a 2012 budget of $352 million, and Mapes said the governor added an additional $25 million from the previous fiscal year. The supplemental appropriation was debated in a joint Senate and House appropriations committee meeting Wednesday and now will go to the House for a vote.

The additional funding comes after state correctional officers and other prison employees protested last year what they believe is an increasingly dangerous inmate to staff ratio at the nine facilities. A protest was held outside the Newton prison Nov. 2.