{"id":730,"date":"2011-08-14T21:00:54","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T02:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=730"},"modified":"2011-08-15T07:11:41","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T12:11:41","slug":"time-to-cut-the-strings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?p=730","title":{"rendered":"Time to cut the strings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Iowa Code is not reading material that excites even the most avid readers in the state.\u00a0 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 \u2013 a jury.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 As a matter-of-fact, these two agencies are completely distinct from each other.\u00a0 Each has its own board of directors.\u00a0 The DOC\u2019s board is selected by the governor with the Iowa Senate\u2019s approval.\u00a0 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. <\/span><\/p>\n

A\u00a0 CBC must \u201cfurnish or contract for those services necessary to provide a community-based correctional program which meets the needs of that judicial district.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A district department is a state agency for purposes of chapter 669.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As you can see, there is no mention of the Iowa Department of Corrections.\u00a0 It is an entirely separate agency of the state as it pertains to the state\u2019s tort claims act (Chapter 669).<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Iowa Code section 904.10, which defines the responsibilities of the Department of Corrections, limits the Department\u2019s relation to the CBCs to that of accreditation and funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

The department shall administer the institutions listed in section 904.102.\u00a0 The department shall be responsible to the extent provided for by law for all of the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Accreditation and funding of community-based corrections programs including but not limited to pretrial release, probation, residential facilities, presentence investigation, parole, and work release.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Iowa state industries.<\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Jail inspections.<\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Other duties provided for by law.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Although CBCs are separate from the DOC, operating under separate boards and separate directors, CBCs must have their funding channeled through the DOC.\u00a0 The funding for community-based corrections depends upon the lobbying efforts of the DOC.\u00a0 The DOC has a lobbyist (oops!\u00a0 They\u2019re called liaisons); CBCs have no such luxury.\u00a0 The CBCs must depend upon the DOC efforts at the Capitol to gain anything beyond federal funding.\u00a0 Does anyone see a conflict of interest here?<\/span><\/p>\n

The DOC is a state level agency for all the apparent reasons.\u00a0 CBCs have local control intertwined within each judicial region.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fawkes-Lee & Ryan believe it\u2019s time to cut the strings.\u00a0 If CBCs are to remain individual agencies of the state for tort purposes, they should be in control of their own budgets.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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?
\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264,17],"tags":[144,266,267,265,103,268],"class_list":["post-730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fairness","category-issues","tag-des-moines-register","tag-district-departments-of-correctional-services","tag-fawkes-lee-ryan","tag-iowa-code","tag-iowa-department-of-corrections","tag-joint-subcommittee-on-justice-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=730"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":741,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions\/741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}