Correctional Management

"This needs to be addressed and no one else is addressing it. These detainees are crying for your help," an organizer said

The underwriter pulled out following criticism that it was breaking a promise not to get involved in for-profit prisons

Turn Key Health's CEO said improvements had been made, including the jail administrator's efforts to address detention staffing shortages

Former prisoners, advocates and federal investigators have long raised concerns about the office's effectiveness

Advocates say efforts should include bringing in outside experts and trusted community members, not just passing out flyers and having talks by prison staff

The Anamosa prison needs more than 30 correctional officers and nurses to be safe based on an assessment done more than a decade ago

The city started a project to replace the jail locks after the February unrest; the project requires new cell frames, doors, windows and electronic systems

Officials were accused of negligence and constitutional rights violations in a 2018 riot in which seven inmates were killed and more than a dozen others injured

The funding scuffle centers on a $140 million budget reduction that would require the DOC to come up with a plan to shut down at least four state prisons