(Anamosa, Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Corrections reports it is redesignating the Anamosa State Penitentiary from a Maximum-to strictly medium-security facility. The Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP) is a maximum/medium security institution that currently houses approximately 950 offenders, both medium- and maximum-security level inmates.  Its current maximum security inmates will now be moved to the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The department says the move comes as Iowa’s prison population drops. Both the Anamosa prison, with 915 inmates, and the Fort Madison prison, with 721, were over capacity as of Tuesday (Feb.8), according to I-DOC, although not all of Iowa’s nine prisons were. The state’s prison system Tuesday was over capacity by nearly 13.7 percent — that there were 7,946 inmates Tuesday but capacity for 6,990.

The Department of Corrections says the move to a medium security facility will allow them to focus on treatment opportunities for minimum security inmates.

In 2021, two staff members died after an assault at the State penitentiary. The prison has already undergone significant changes to its security following the murders of officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte during an attempted escape.

A review found the prison was overcrowded, understaffed and in need of stricter work assignment policies. Along with the security change, Anamosa and the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility are also swapping wardens. Anamosa prison’s warden, Kris Karberg, will be transferring into the warden position at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, effective Feb. 17. The current Fort Dodge warden, Nick Lamb, will be transferring to the warden position at Anamosa. Both wardens have multiple decades of experience in security operations and correctional work.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police, Tuesday evening, arrested 20-year-old Anthony Ray Castle, of Red Oak. Castle was arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree, a Simple Misdemeanor. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Senator Joni Ernst says trained dogs should search every vehicle driving north through border crossings along the U-S/Mexico border — to stop the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs. “Dogs are about as low tech as you can get, but they are one of the best ways to find those drugs,” Ernst says. “They’re very, very efficient.” Ernst recently saw a patrol with up to five drug sniffing dogs in action at the border crossing at San Diego. “Those dogs could quickly detect any illicit materials that are in those cars,” Ernst says.

There are 38 border crossings for vehicle traffic between the U.S. and Mexico — the San Diego Port of Entry is the world’s busiest land border crossing. Ernst says they’re training more dogs and handlers to take shifts there and it will take a while to have enough canines to search all border crossings.

“The Port of Entry in San Diego has 34 lanes of traffic with 70,000 vehicles and 20,000 pedestrians crossing every single day,” Ernst says. “This initial canine screening should be happening on every single vehicle entering this country and right now that’s simply not happening.”

Ernst led a congressional delegation to the southern border this past weekend, with stops in California and New Mexico. Iowans Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who serve in the U.S. House, were part on the trip. The group went to Mexico City as well. Feenstra says the meeting with Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs focused on Mexico’s proposal to ban the import of genetically modified corn, starting in 2024.

“We had a great discussion with him about how we could move forward and make sure that we could continue the opportunity of exporting our corn to Mexico,” Feenstra says, “and we’re hoping there’s a solution in the next 6-12 months concerning this issue.” Miller-Meeks says she found Mexican officials willing partners. “They absolutely want to be doing the job of helping to make Mexico safe as well as stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States,” she says.

Miller-Meeks says adding canine units on both sites of the border makes sense, as it doesn’t cost as much or take up land like cameras and other monitoring devices.