MITCHELVILLE, IA - Iowa's prisons are becoming so crowded with women that some female inmates could be assigned for the first time in history to the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison.

Deputy Iowa Corrections Director Larry Brimeyer told the Iowa Board of Corrections today that prison officials are considering the possibility of transferring about 40 women to the penitentiary's Clinical Care Unit for mentally ill prisoners.

The Fort Madison penitentiary, which was established in 1839, is the oldest prison west of the Mississippi and has always been strictly for male convicts.

Brimeyer said the Clinical Care Unit, which opened in 2002 at a cost of $26 million, was designed to hold 200 male prisoners, but has only been used for about 140 to 145 inmates. Officials are considering the possibility of assigning 40 women inmates to a separate “pod” within the unit, he said.

“The women would be completely physically and procedurally separate from the men,” Brimeyer said. “They wouldn't eat together. They wouldn't recreate together. They wouldn't do anything together.”

Iowa Department of Corrections officials said they being forced to consider a host of alternatives to deal with a surging population of women inmates that has been fueled by an increase in women being convicted of drug crimes, many of whom also have mental health problems.

The state women's prison at Mitchellvillet oday was jammed with 585 inmates in space designed for 443 convicts. Another 83 women were in custody at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility, and 55 more women were at the Oakdale state prison near Iowa City.

Some additional space will become available at Oakdale next year when a “special needs” unit opens for men and women inmates with medical and mental health problems. Over the past 11 years, Iowa's women's prison population has grown almost twice as fast as male inmates, up 83 percent. Researchers project the women's inmate population will increase to 1,054 inmates by mid-year 2015 if current trends continue.

About 34 percent of the women inmates are now serving time for drug offenses, particularly involving methamphetamine. Sixty percent of female inmates have been diagnosed with mental illness, almost twice the percentage of male inmates with mental health problems.

“At some point, we have to address these growth issues,” said Mitchellville Warden Diann Wilder-Tomlinson.

Similar trends are occurring nationally. As of December 31, 2004, 104,848 women in the United States were held in state and federal prisons — up from 68,468 in 1995, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Many of these women inmates have children, who are typically cared for by grandparents or other relatives while they are in prison, Wilder-Tomlinson said. So it's important to help these women stay out of prison once they have been released, she added.

“If you treat the needs of these women, often you will rescue a family. That is what we are trying to do,” she said.

Corrections Board Chairwoman Robyn Mills of Johnston said the issue underscores the need to provide treatment for women offenders and to address safety considerations.

Many of these women inmates are nonviolent offenders, and prison officials should consider working with the Iowa Board of Parole to determine if more of them can be released to community corrections programs, Mills said. The board should also consider constructing additional prison space at Mitchellville, she added.

“I think it needs to be a comprehensive approach. You can't just take one thing out of context and do it,” Mills said.