By Andy Hoffman
The Hawk Eye
FORT MADISON — Additional design problems at the new Iowa State Penitentiary again have postponed the transfer of inmates to the facility, which has been delayed for months because of several design flaws.
Assistant Iowa Corrections Director Fred Scaletta said Wednesday repairs still are not complete at the prison, and there is no timetable for when inmates will occupy their new cells.
Prison officials celebrated the opening of the 800-inmate prison a year ago and were supposed to transfer 550 inmates from the nearby old penitentiary in March. But those plans remain on hold as several contractors and state agencies try to bring the prison up to code.
Iowa’s new prison was built with design flaws in its geothermal heating and cooling system and in its smoke evacuation system that need to be fixed for the safety of inmates, the Iowa Department of Corrections confirmed Wednesday.
Workers have completed upgrades to the pumps and pipes that didn’t initially heat or cool several buildings adequately, Scaletta said. An independent commissioning agent will be on site this week to test the system, he said.
The department announced those problems in April, though they had been discovered months earlier.
“We’re still working through what the long-term fix and the next steps are going to be,” department deputy director Brad Hier said.
The smoke evacuation systems in four buildings that will house inmates also had design flaws, which were discovered after they failed to work during a July 29 test, officials said. It meant inmates could have had trouble leaving the buildings safely in the event of a fire because dangerous levels of smoke would remain inside.
Workers pumped in outside air during a Sept. 25 follow-up test, and the system worked successfully. Department of Corrections officials said it’s still unclear whether the temporary fix would be acceptable, adding additional construction changes may be necessary.
The Iowa Fire Marshal’s office is waiting for information from the project architect before considering whether the change would bring the prison up to code, spokesman Ron Humphrey said.
Department officials refused to say how much the repairs have cost to date, only that it’s more than $1 million. In both cases, state officials said a now-defunct Dubuque subcontractor is responsible for the design flaws, which may complicate the state’s possible legal efforts to recoup taxpayer money spent repairing them.
The Durrant Group, a subcontractor for the project’s architect, is responsible for the apparent design flaws of both systems, Hier said. Durrant filed for bankruptcy in 2012 -- during construction -- and later ceased operations. Another contractor took over its work but didn’t assume Durrant’s liability.
State officials have been “in constant contact” with the Iowa Attorney General’s office to consider possible legal claims against companies involved in the construction, Department of Administrative Services spokesman Caleb Hunter said.
Meanwhile, anger is mounting among the penitentiary’s correctional officers, said Danny Homan, president of a union representing them. He said some who didn’t want to transfer to the new, high-tech prison have retired but wouldn’t have done so if they knew of the delay.
“There is just a ton of questions by people who are extremely frustrated because they don’t know what’s going on,” he said.
State officials said they still have no timeline for the transfer of inmates and acknowledged employees who have received seven days of training will need refresher training on the new prison’s technology, DOC officials said.
The new prison was approved by the Iowa Legislature after two inmates escaped from the existing facility in 2005.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.