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| Gov. Branstad opens prisons funded by debt |
| By dailyiowan.com - Jake McCulley |
| Published: 11/05/2013 |
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Gov. Terry Branstad cut the ribbons at two new prison facilities last week. Although he disapproved of their funding, many Democratic leaders supported it. Together, the prisons cost a total of $217 million. The money for these new prisons was borrowed, a decision made by former Gov. Chet Culver. “I didn’t like the idea of funding it with debt,” Branstad told Radio Iowa last week. “I think most Iowans think this kind of debt doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” The new prisons were part of the I-JOBS program, a state investment program started in 2009. While Branstad opposes the way these facilities were funded, Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, is in favor of funding the facilities through bonds, which he says were purchased at an unusually low rate. “We got a record, killer good price on those bond rates,” Taylor said. Taylor said the prisons also provide both short-term construction jobs and long-term prison guard jobs. Branstad presided over the opening of the $68 million expansion to the Iowa Correctional Facility for Women in Mitchellville on Oct. 28. John Baldwin, the director of the Iowa Department of Corrections, said it would provide new medical capabilities. “We’ve added approximately 60 new beds,” he said. “These are medical beds; they’ll enable better medical and psychiatric care for the inmates.” The other facility Branstad opened on Oct. 30 in Fort Madison is the Iowa State Penitentiary, which replaced a prison built before Iowa was a state. Read More. |
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