(Radio Iowa) – A delegation of Iowa Department of Corrections staff have just returned from a trip to Poland for an international conference on prisons. Tennie Carlson, of Stratford, is a corrections officer with the Second Judicial District Department of Correctional Services. Carlson first went to Poland in 2019 as part of the Polish-American Development Council, which deals with the mental health of inmates. Carlson says, “It was my first opportunity to travel to Poland and educate them on the risk assessment that the Department of Corrections uses in assessing our clientele to determine their risk factors, their return to the community, if they’re likely to reoffend and that type of thing.” Carlson says Poland wants to bring its prison system up to modern standards, and doing a risk assessment is a big part of that.

“Poland does not have the luxury of those assessments so they really crave that information,” Carlson says. “They want to know more. They want to educate themselves on identifying those risks and then treating those offenders or clients according to their risk.” Offering an inmate too much help upon their release can backfire, she says.  “Statistics show that if you offer low-risk clients a lot of services, they’re more likely to become more criminal,” Carlson says. “So you want to make sure that your dosage of treatment matches their area of risk and their need of risk. Iowa does a great job of identifying that and providing the correct dosage of treatment to our offenders.”

Carlson says a delegation of Polish prison officials will be visiting Iowa in the fall to take tours and exchange more ideas.

(Winterset, Iowa) – Three members of the Madison County Ambulance Service are no longer employed with the county. According to KCCI, the county Board of Supervisors last week, voted to let go of Director Tadd Davis. Davis was put on administrative leave in May pending an investigation.

Two other employees also faced investigation, but their names were never disclosed. Last week, employee Bryan Snyder resigned from the service and Kayla Whitten had her employment terminated.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has signed two bills into law that are designed to address a lack of treatment options for Iowans seeking mental health care services. One bill sets up a loan repayment program for students who agree to work in an underserved are of Iowa after they get a degree in the mental health field. Representative Timi Brown-Powers of Waterloo says it will hopefully boost the number of mental health professionals working in rural Iowa.

“Right now we are only meeting 40% of the need of mental health folks in the state of Iowa, so this bill through student aid, I hope, will expand feet on the ground, hands in the air for our folks with mental illness,” Brown-Powers said. The other new law will let a state board issue provisional licenses to doctoral students in psychology — so they can practice during their internship with a license psychologist.

Senator Jeff Edler of State Center says it’s another in a long line of bills that have addressed the workforce shortage in the mental health field. “You know this will help provide avenues for treatment for people in mental health distress,” Edler says.

Governor Kim Reynolds signed a total of 21 bills into law on Monday. One will let adults with liability insurance drive all-terrain vehicles on two-lane primary highways — if the A-T-V is equipped with headlights. Another will increase the state incentive to school districts that share superintendents, special education directors and school resource officers.

(Shelby, Iowa) – Shelby County Emergency Management Coordinator Alex Londo reports that at around 6:24-a.m., Monday, the Shelby County 911 Center was notified of a structure fire on Des Moines Street, in Shelby, and that there were possibly people inside the residence.

Shelby Fire and Rescue, Minden Fire and Rescue, Medivac, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and Shelby County EMA responded. Two people were transported to the hospital. The fire is currently under investigation by the State Fire Marshalls Office.

Additional details were not released.

(Cylinder, Iowa) – The driver of one vehicle died and the other was injured during a near head-on collision Sunday night, in northern Iowa’s Palo Alto County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2011 Chevy Silverado pickup driven by 45-year-old Brian M. Freeman, of Garner, was traveling west on Highway 18 at around 10:07-p.m., and approaching a slight right-hand curve in the road. The pickup failed to follow the curve, and crossed the center line before colliding with an eastbound 2006 Chevy Trailblazer SUV.

The driver of the SUV, 26-year-old Landon R. Schiek, of Algona, died at the scene. Freeman was injured and transported by Mercy Air to Mercy Hospital in Mason City. Both drivers were wearing their seat belts. The crash remains under investigation.

The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, Cylinder Fire Dept., Emmetsburg EMS, Emmetsburg Police, and the Palo Alto County Medical Examiner.