Time to cut the strings

The Iowa Code is not reading material that excites even the most avid readers in the state.  You know that there is a law against murder in there somewhere, but what it says exactly, or how it applies to a particular incident is left to a prosecutor and defense attorney to argue about in front of a judge, and often – a jury.

It might interest some to know that the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Iowa District Departments of Correctional Services (Community Based Corrections or CBCs) are not closely related.  As a matter-of-fact, these two agencies are completely distinct from each other.  Each has its own board of directors.  The DOC’s board is selected by the governor with the Iowa Senate’s approval.  The selection of CBC board members in an entirely different process that involves county supervisors and judges, and an entity known as a project advisory committee.

A  CBC must “furnish or contract for those services necessary to provide a community-based correctional program which meets the needs of that judicial district.  The district department is under the direction of a board of directors, selected as provided in section 905.3, and shall be administered by a director employed by the board.  A district department is a state agency for purposes of chapter 669.”

As you can see, there is no mention of the Iowa Department of Corrections.  It is an entirely separate agency of the state as it pertains to the state’s tort claims act (Chapter 669).

On the other hand, Iowa Code section 904.10, which defines the responsibilities of the Department of Corrections, limits the Department’s relation to the CBCs to that of accreditation and funding.

The department shall administer the institutions listed in section 904.102.  The department shall be responsible to the extent provided for by law for all of the following:

1.  Accreditation and funding of community-based corrections programs including but not limited to pretrial release, probation, residential facilities, presentence investigation, parole, and work release.

2.  Iowa state industries.

3.  Jail inspections.

4.  Other duties provided for by law.

Reading the recent Des Moines Register opinion pieces, articles and op-eds, a person can get a sense of wondering why the Legislature has neglected to provide funding for three halfway houses; one in Cedar Rapids, one in Sioux City, and another in Waterloo.  

Although CBCs are separate from the DOC, operating under separate boards and separate directors, CBCs must have their funding channeled through the DOC.  The funding for community-based corrections depends upon the lobbying efforts of the DOC.  The DOC has a lobbyist (oops!  They’re called liaisons); CBCs have no such luxury.  The CBCs must depend upon the DOC efforts at the Capitol to gain anything beyond federal funding.  Does anyone see a conflict of interest here?

The DOC is a state level agency for all the apparent reasons.  CBCs have local control intertwined within each judicial region.  Mixing these two separate and distinct entities in a process that involves discussing needs with legislators can leave the Big Bossy Brother making the final determination as to who gets the greater slice of the pie.

Fawkes-Lee & Ryan believe it’s time to cut the strings.  If CBCs are to remain individual agencies of the state for tort purposes, they should be in control of their own budgets.  CBCs should submit their budgets directly to the Joint Subcommittee on Justice Systems in the future and leave the DOC to fend for itself without the potential for leaving empty buildings all over the state.

 

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3 Responses to Time to cut the strings

  1. IRV HOFFBAUER says:

    TKS MARTY — I HAD NO IDEA HOW IT WAS SET UP — JUST ANOTHER BUNGLING SET OF AGENCIES TO ADD TO THE DISFUNCTION OF NEEDED SERVICES AND A GROSS WASTE OF MONEY AND POSSIBLE TALENT — AS A GROUP WHAT CAN WE DO CORRECT A MESS ????

  2. Carlos Jayne says:

    Raiding CBC coffers for the benefit of the Central Office of the DOC budget is unconscienable, It shows the disdain of the DOC for the priority mission of CBC > to get deserving people out of the system through program and supervision. Does the DOC support the mission of the CBC? Put the money back.
    Thanks for the interpretive article. I hope legislators read this.

  3. Jean Basinger says:

    This information is extremely valuable and should be required reading by every legislator and certainly for the members of the Board of Corrections and the Joint Senate and House Judiciary Appropriations Committee. The legislature and the taxpayers should ask and get some honest answers as to why buildings are being built and not staffed, why was a large amount of funding transferred from the Iowa Medical and Classification Center to pay the salaries of folks in Central Office, why are there cameras up at the construction sites at Fort Madison and Mitchellville so that folks can watch the ongoing construction minute by minute? Is this “an ego trip” for certain members of the DOC? In tough budget times isn’t that a waste? We have all agreed that the least and most ineffective way of treating the mental ill is in our prisons and yet, now that the state is ready to design a new mental health care system, John Baldwin is saying that the IDOC can treat the mentally ill. What’s really going on here?

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