danielle
03-02-2003, 11:22 AM
By Associated Press
.
FORT MADISON, Iowa — For Kelly Johnson, state budget cuts have meant less of just about everything that makes his security-guard job in Iowa’s toughest and oldest prison better and safer.
.
There are fewer guards in the cell blocks, yard and workshops. Fewer classes, jobs and privileges for the prison’s 945 inmates. And for a while last year, there were fewer dollars in his paycheck to reflect a cost-cutting drop in rank, from lieutenant to sergeant.
.
Even the level of personal safety he feels when patrolling the chlorine-scented cell blocks has waned.
.
“Every day, when you look over your shoulder and there is an officer who is no longer on duty who used to be, you feel a little more at risk,” said Johnson, a 13-year veteran. “The degree of concern keeps rising, not just for me, but for everyone here.”
.
The Iowa State penitentiary, America’s oldest prison west of the Mississippi River, provides a maximum security home to the “worst of the worst” of Iowa criminals. More than 25 percent of inmates living inside its limestone walls are serving a life sentence; many have come to the last stop on “Iowa’s prison train” because they couldn’t be handled elsewhere.
.
Built in 1839 when the whipping post was still a favored means of discipline, the prison has long been a key engine to the local economy, providing generations of residents in this former military outpost along the Mississippi River with a steady and decent livelihood.
.
But the size of prison staff and the number of programs for inmates are in decline, victims of a sluggish state economy and budget cuts. For some like Johnson and his colleagues, the cuts have raised safety concerns; for others, doubt about the institution’s ability to fulfill its twin roles of public safety and inmate reform.
.
In the last three years, lawmakers in Des Moines have slashed the Department of Corrections budget. In turn, Corrections administrators have pruned budgets at each of its nine prisons, cuts that have effected nearly every aspect of day-to-day operations inside the state penitentiary here.
.
Administrators say they’ve been forced to eliminate 39 full-time positions in the past two years, from clerical staff to guards to supervisors and counselors.
.
A year ago, lawmakers trimmed an additional $6.6 million from the department’s budget and ordered furloughs for prison guards as a means of saving money.
.
The Legislature ultimately sidestepped furloughs — and the threat of systemwide inmate lockdowns — by passing a supplemental spending bill in January. The bill was approved after prison and union officials protested statewide that furloughs would heighten the risk to understaffed guards in the state’s overcrowded prisons.
.
“There was deep and real concern about safety and security inside the prison walls,” Gov. Tom Vilsack said.
.
There is an unwritten rule that prison guards don’t share the details, worries and risks of their jobs at home.
.
“It’s always just sort of been that way,” said Doug Hayes, an 18-year veteran who is built like a defensive tackle.
.
But Hayes’ wife, Debbie, said news of the furloughs and lockdowns spread quickly. Not one to typically worry about her husband’s safety, Debbie Hayes says budget cuts that have lowered the guard-inmate ratio are worrisome.
.
“I don’t think people realize what those guys have to put up with,” said Debbie Hayes, whose grandfather was a guard at the prison. “They are putting their lives on the line every day.”
.
Just as the prison’s original cell block — Cell House 17, built with limestone quarried across the river in Illinois — is no longer in use, so too are some of the modern mental health and rehabilitation programs for inmates.
.
Warden John Mathes said the $32 million budget can no longer support the treatment, jobs and amenities that were available to inmates three years ago.
.
“We’ve been challenged to look closely at what we do and how we can do it better,” said Mathes, who wears longjohns to work now that building temperatures have been lowered a few degrees to save heating costs.
.
Substance abuse, anger management and domestic violence programs have been reduced or eliminated. High-school and vocational classes have been eliminated for the 560 inmates in the maximum security section.
.
Inmates get fewer monthly visits and must now use income from their 40-to 60-cent-per hour jobs to pay for toothpaste, soap and shampoo.
.
An even bigger concern is the lack of jobs for inmates, prison officials say.
.
Fiscal belt tightening at the state universities and agencies has meant fewer furniture orders for Prison Industries, the in-house workshop where inmates build red oak desks, chairs and dormitory-style bunk beds. More than 100 inmates worked in the factory in more prosperous times, compared to 61 who work there now.
.
There also are fewer jobs at the textile mill and telemarketing center run by the Department of Tourism.
.
Deb Nichols, director of treatment services in the maximum security unit, says jobs and therapy are critical daily prison routine, inmate reform and ability to one day cope in the real world.
.
“We’ve learned that it’s best to keep these inmates busy with something,” said Nichols. “Just sitting them in cells and locking them down is not the answer.”
.
Mathes and his deputies agree that cuts in staff and programs has upset the delicate balance that maintains safety and civility at a prison that hasn’t had a major uprising since 1981. But he declined to speculate on the possible consequences of making do with even less.
.
“Inmate frustration is greater … there is no doubt about that,” Mathes said. “Security staff is concerned even more about making sure we have adequate staffing every shift, every single day.
.
“But the reality of it is we have to watch closely what we do and how we spend our money. So it becomes a question of what you need versus what you want,” he said.
.
Meanwhile, Hayes and Johnson say there is one way to know when enough is enough at Fort Madison.
.
“The inmates have a way of letting you know those things,” Hayes said.
.
FORT MADISON, Iowa — For Kelly Johnson, state budget cuts have meant less of just about everything that makes his security-guard job in Iowa’s toughest and oldest prison better and safer.
.
There are fewer guards in the cell blocks, yard and workshops. Fewer classes, jobs and privileges for the prison’s 945 inmates. And for a while last year, there were fewer dollars in his paycheck to reflect a cost-cutting drop in rank, from lieutenant to sergeant.
.
Even the level of personal safety he feels when patrolling the chlorine-scented cell blocks has waned.
.
“Every day, when you look over your shoulder and there is an officer who is no longer on duty who used to be, you feel a little more at risk,” said Johnson, a 13-year veteran. “The degree of concern keeps rising, not just for me, but for everyone here.”
.
The Iowa State penitentiary, America’s oldest prison west of the Mississippi River, provides a maximum security home to the “worst of the worst” of Iowa criminals. More than 25 percent of inmates living inside its limestone walls are serving a life sentence; many have come to the last stop on “Iowa’s prison train” because they couldn’t be handled elsewhere.
.
Built in 1839 when the whipping post was still a favored means of discipline, the prison has long been a key engine to the local economy, providing generations of residents in this former military outpost along the Mississippi River with a steady and decent livelihood.
.
But the size of prison staff and the number of programs for inmates are in decline, victims of a sluggish state economy and budget cuts. For some like Johnson and his colleagues, the cuts have raised safety concerns; for others, doubt about the institution’s ability to fulfill its twin roles of public safety and inmate reform.
.
In the last three years, lawmakers in Des Moines have slashed the Department of Corrections budget. In turn, Corrections administrators have pruned budgets at each of its nine prisons, cuts that have effected nearly every aspect of day-to-day operations inside the state penitentiary here.
.
Administrators say they’ve been forced to eliminate 39 full-time positions in the past two years, from clerical staff to guards to supervisors and counselors.
.
A year ago, lawmakers trimmed an additional $6.6 million from the department’s budget and ordered furloughs for prison guards as a means of saving money.
.
The Legislature ultimately sidestepped furloughs — and the threat of systemwide inmate lockdowns — by passing a supplemental spending bill in January. The bill was approved after prison and union officials protested statewide that furloughs would heighten the risk to understaffed guards in the state’s overcrowded prisons.
.
“There was deep and real concern about safety and security inside the prison walls,” Gov. Tom Vilsack said.
.
There is an unwritten rule that prison guards don’t share the details, worries and risks of their jobs at home.
.
“It’s always just sort of been that way,” said Doug Hayes, an 18-year veteran who is built like a defensive tackle.
.
But Hayes’ wife, Debbie, said news of the furloughs and lockdowns spread quickly. Not one to typically worry about her husband’s safety, Debbie Hayes says budget cuts that have lowered the guard-inmate ratio are worrisome.
.
“I don’t think people realize what those guys have to put up with,” said Debbie Hayes, whose grandfather was a guard at the prison. “They are putting their lives on the line every day.”
.
Just as the prison’s original cell block — Cell House 17, built with limestone quarried across the river in Illinois — is no longer in use, so too are some of the modern mental health and rehabilitation programs for inmates.
.
Warden John Mathes said the $32 million budget can no longer support the treatment, jobs and amenities that were available to inmates three years ago.
.
“We’ve been challenged to look closely at what we do and how we can do it better,” said Mathes, who wears longjohns to work now that building temperatures have been lowered a few degrees to save heating costs.
.
Substance abuse, anger management and domestic violence programs have been reduced or eliminated. High-school and vocational classes have been eliminated for the 560 inmates in the maximum security section.
.
Inmates get fewer monthly visits and must now use income from their 40-to 60-cent-per hour jobs to pay for toothpaste, soap and shampoo.
.
An even bigger concern is the lack of jobs for inmates, prison officials say.
.
Fiscal belt tightening at the state universities and agencies has meant fewer furniture orders for Prison Industries, the in-house workshop where inmates build red oak desks, chairs and dormitory-style bunk beds. More than 100 inmates worked in the factory in more prosperous times, compared to 61 who work there now.
.
There also are fewer jobs at the textile mill and telemarketing center run by the Department of Tourism.
.
Deb Nichols, director of treatment services in the maximum security unit, says jobs and therapy are critical daily prison routine, inmate reform and ability to one day cope in the real world.
.
“We’ve learned that it’s best to keep these inmates busy with something,” said Nichols. “Just sitting them in cells and locking them down is not the answer.”
.
Mathes and his deputies agree that cuts in staff and programs has upset the delicate balance that maintains safety and civility at a prison that hasn’t had a major uprising since 1981. But he declined to speculate on the possible consequences of making do with even less.
.
“Inmate frustration is greater … there is no doubt about that,” Mathes said. “Security staff is concerned even more about making sure we have adequate staffing every shift, every single day.
.
“But the reality of it is we have to watch closely what we do and how we spend our money. So it becomes a question of what you need versus what you want,” he said.
.
Meanwhile, Hayes and Johnson say there is one way to know when enough is enough at Fort Madison.
.
“The inmates have a way of letting you know those things,” Hayes said.