The head of the state’s prison system says in the past decade, Iowa is one of just two states in the country where there’s been an increase in homicides, robberies, rapes AND aggravated assaults. Iowa Department of Corrections director Jerry Bartruff says at the same time, the number of paroled prisoners who commit another violent crime is “creeping up.” “So if you see an increase of crime in the community and an increase in crime of people that have been returned to the community, that tells me that we’ve got something that we need to do differently,” Bartruff says.

Bartruff says Iowa remains ‘fairly safe” and this data is “somewhat skewed” as PERCENTAGE increases “look huge” because Iowa’s population AND crime rate is small. However, the prison director says while there was a 10 percent DECLINE in violent crime in Iowa cities with more than 50-thousand residents last year — there was a 50 percent INCREASE in violent crime in Iowa cities with fewer than 10-thousand residents. “We think that we can be part of the solution, but this data us to say: ‘We’ve got to do something,'” Bartruff says.

Eighteen years ago, the Iowa Department of Corrections began collecting data on prisoners behind bars AND those who’d been released. Bartruff says in 2015, the data analysis was ramped up, to come up with a more precise reading on which prisoners are the best candidates for parole. The “ultimate goal” — Bartruff says — “is an Iowa with no more victims.” “We think with the things that we’re doing now…in 2027 we believe we can see a a reduced prison population, we can see recidivism reduced, we can criminal justice costs lowered and we can see a safer Iowa,” Bartruff says. “That’s where we want to go.”

There are nearly 83-hundred inmates inside Iowa prisons today. About 20-thousand people are on probation, with nearly four-thousand others being regularly monitored by a parole officer. Bartruff’s agency is also monitoring about 17-hundred other people who are awaiting a criminal trial.

(Radio Iowa)