METH LAW TRIMS PRISON COUNT

Iowa's battle to shut down methamphetamine labs has led to a 24 percent
overall drop in drug offenders sent to prison compared with four years
ago, a new state report shows.

The decline is among several key factors behind a revised forecast
projecting significantly less growth for Iowa's prison population over the
next decade, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile
Justice Planning.

Iowa's prisons now hold about 8,700 inmates. The number is predicted to
increase to 8,900 inmates by mid-year 2018, up 2.2 percent. As recently as
2002, Iowa's prisons had been on a pace to exceed 12,000 inmates by 2012.

The revision still means plans should proceed for $199 million worth of
prison construction at Fort Madison and Mitchellville, state officials
said. But construction of additional new state prisons beyond those two
projects shouldn't be required, said Beth Lenstra, a senior fiscal analyst
with the nonpartisan Iowa Legislative Services Agency.

"There has been a significant stabilizing of the prison population,"
Lenstra said.

The forecast matters because any reduction in offenders sent to prison has
significant budget implications. Each Iowa inmate costs taxpayers about
$28,000 annually, state records show. The study comes amid a time when
lawmakers are dealing with a budget shortfall.

Last year, 795 inmates entered Iowa's prisons for crimes linked to all
types of drugs, compared with 1,049 offenders sent to prison for drug
convictions in 2005. There were 343 offenders put behind bars in 2008
specifically for meth-related crimes, down from 697 meth-related prison
admissions in 2005.

The reduction in the number of people sent to prison for meth crimes is
directly linked to a state law passed in 2005 that restricts access to
pseudoephredrine and other precursors to methamphetamine manufacturing,
said Gary Kendell, director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control
Policy.

The law took pseudoephedrine off retail shelves and put the product behind
pharmacy counters.

A preliminary report shows 174 meth labs were found in Iowa last year,
down from about 1,500 annually in 2004, Kendell said.

"This is probably the best example of legislation doing what it was
supposed to do," said Paul Stageberg, administrator of the Iowa Division
of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. Most people arrested for
operating meth labs are charged with a Class B felony, which carries a
mandatory prison sentence.

One concern is that drug-related prison admissions linked to crack cocaine
in Iowa rose from 85 offenders in 2005 to 144 offenders last year,
Stageburg said. Crack cocaine convictions are often cited as one factor
behind the disproportionate percentage of blacks in prison. In contrast,
the drop in prison admissions for meth-related criminal charges has
primarily affected non-minority offenders, Stageberg said.

Blacks represent about 25 percent of Iowa's prison population, compared
with about 2.6 percent of Iowa's general population. State officials said
some of the other factors behind the slowing growth of Iowa's prison
population include:

- - New court commitments to prison, which are at the lowest level since
1997. Also, there was a decline in felony cases being disposed in Iowa's
courts for each of the last five years.

- - A decline for the past two years in the number of offenders returning to
prison after release on programs such as parole or work release.

- - A decline in the number of inmates through allowing some inmates to be
considered for parole after serving 70 percent of their mandatory sentence
instead of 85 percent. During the 2003 legislative session, a person
convicted of an 85 percent sentence after July 1, 2003, became eligible
for parole after serving 70 percent of that sentence. Then, during the
2004 session, all persons convicted of an 85 percent sentence prior to
July 1, 2003, became parole eligible after serving 70 percent of the
sentence.

Still, there are some troubling trends, according to the Division of
Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning.

For example, women are entering prison at a faster rate than men. A $68
million construction project at the Mitchellville prison will help address
the overcrowding issue, said Lettie Prell, research director of the Iowa
Department of Corrections. The plan calls for consolidating female
prisoners at Mitchellville by transferring women there from prisons at
Mount Pleasant and Oakdale.

Some other issues facing state officials include:

- - Tougher sentencing laws that will increase the number of sex offenders
in Iowa's prisons.

- - An aging inmate population who will require more taxpayer spending for
health care.

- - A reduction in parole releases each of the past two years and an
increase in the average prison time served before release.

- - An increase in the number of offenders being freed from prison without
being monitored in the community on parole or other supervision because
their sentences have expired.

State legislative leaders from Democratic and Republican caucuses said
they support efforts to curb the growth of Iowa's prison population.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, a Council Bluffs Democrat, said
he thinks too many people who have committed so-called property crimes -
such as forgery - are being sent to prison.

"I know that it hurts people when you steal money from people. But I am
not sure the most effective way to deal with that is steel bars and barbed
wire," Gronstal said.

House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, a Hiawatha Republican, said a trend
appears to be growing in favor of using community-based corrections
programs for nonviolent offenders instead of prison. "I think you will
continue to see an investment there by the Legislature," he said.