Iowa’s prison system is struggling with severe staffing shortages, with over 230 vacant positions, including more than half for correctional officers. The state is planning to build three new prisons, but the union representing prison workers warns that staffing these facilities will be ‘impossible.’

Staffing Crisis

The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency predicts that the number of inmates in Iowa prisons will surge by nearly 50 percent in three years, due to the state’s new habitual offender law. This law increases the mandatory minimum sentence for repeat offenders and is expected to lead to a significant increase in the prison population.

Todd Copley, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said that the state cannot staff the facilities it already has, let alone build three more. ‘The Department of Corrections can’t staff the prisons that we have, let alone build three more where it would be impossible to staff those,’ Copley said.

The staffing shortage is not only a challenge for the state but also poses a danger to both staff and inmates. Copley emphasized that the state needs to do more to help those doing dangerous work, including providing better pay and working conditions.

Original reporting: KCCI Des Moines — read the source article.