A GENERATION IN PRISON

The Incarceration Rate For African-Americans In Iowa Tops The National Average.

That black Iowans are imprisoned at a higher rate than blacks nationwide is
not news. The Register reported last year that at least 1 in 12 black
Iowans is in prison, on parole or probation - a ratio surpassing most other
states - while the ratio for whites is 1 in 110.

Why does this outrageous disparity not only continue to exist, but to grow?

It has been examined at length, including a 1993 study for the Iowa Supreme
Court that covered bias in the criminal-justice system. A statistical
analysis of cases looked at whether there were racial discrepancies in
charging, pretrial release and sentencing decisions in four counties. The
report by the Equality in the Courts Task Force said this: "If the racial
disparities in criminal processing cannot be entirely explained by the
legally relevant variables studied, what does cause these disparities is
unclear. In the surveys of attorneys and judges, a significant number felt
that minority defendants were at a disadvantage. The observed racial
disparities are statistically significant. Although this analysis suggests
that such discrimination is not blatant in Iowa courts, from the point of
view of a victim of such discrimination it no doubt appears to be, and is,
inexcusable. Regardless of how small the disparity or how infrequently it
occurs, we condemn it."

While that report brought attention to the issue, the Legislature's
reaction was primarily to add more prison beds.

In June 1993, 1,133 African-Americans were incarcerated in state prisons,
according to the Iowa Department of Corrections. By June 1999, 1,748.
Blacks make up 2 percent of Iowa's total population but nearly 25 percent
of the state-prison inmates.

More white Iowans were also in state prisons in 1999 than 1993, up to 5,035
from 3,368. The astonishing difference is this: 19 whites per 10,000 whites
in Iowa were incarcerated in June 1999 while 301 African-Americans were
incarcerated per 10,000 African-Americans in Iowa, reports the corrections
department.

"I think a large part of these statistics has to do with a lack of
opportunity," said Don Nickerson, U.S. attorney for the Southern District
of Iowa. "I say that because people who have options as a result of
opportunity don't choose to get involved with crime. If you have options,
then you set goals, and your goals become positive."

The racial breakdown for community corrections - including probation,
parole, work release - shows 71 white Iowans supervised in some fashion in
June 1999 per 10,000 white Iowans. For African-Americans, it's 489 under
community-corrections supervision per 10,000 African-American Iowans.

The scale of devastation, however, isn't really measured by the
disproportionate numbers. The toll on families with a relative in prison is
incalculable. Children especially suffer when a parent isn't present, and
when the system seems to be against them.

Drugs, harsh criminal penalties and higher poverty rates are often cited as
reasons so many African-Americans are behind bars. They are factors. They
do not, however, fully explain why the incarceration rate in state prisons
is so much higher for African-Americans in Iowa compared to whites in Iowa
and compared to African-Americans nationwide.

Racial discrimination is surely at work, however subtle and hard to prove.
White Iowans like to think of themselves as tolerant; neighborliness is a
point of pride. But there must also be some sense of shame when so many
African-Americans are locked up in Iowa's state prisons.