STUDY; IOWA TOPS NATION IN JAILING BLACKS

DES MOINES -- Twenty-four percent of the state's prison population is
black, and the state imprisons a higher percentage of its black population
than any state in the nation, according to a task-force report released Monday.

The report recommends strengthening early education programs in inner
cities, increasing the number of minority teachers, and expanding
health-care programs, particularly for children.

"The impact of dramatically high incarceration rates among
African-Americans has a devastating effect on our children, breaking the
bonds of many families and decimating the social fabric of communities
across the state," Gov. Tom Vilsack said. Vilsack appointed the task force
in 1999. Its two-year study was aimed at exploring the incarceration rate
of blacks in Iowa.

It found that 3 percent of the state's black population is in prison,
compared with 0.2 percent of the white population. Another 7 percent of the
black population is under some form of judicial supervision, such as parole
or probation.

Vilsack said he was pleased the report looked beyond the criminal-justice
system and raised systemic issues that force minorities into the system.

"If we're going to break this vicious cycle, it's got to start with the
youngest people," he said. "There are inherent problems within the inner city."

The governor warned that for many inner-city children, prison is simply an
accepted way of life, and the state must intervene to break that cycle.

"Many of these young people are also accepting the inevitability of prison
as a predestined stage in life," Vilsack said.

Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, who works as a job developer for the
Department of Corrections at the Hope House in Coralville, said he has been
aware of the high percentage of minorities in the criminal-justice system.

"Once minorities get in the system, it's hard to get out," he said.

The task force has been useful, but, Dvorsky said, much more work has to be
done to identify the problem.

"The entire criminal-justice system needs to be looked at to determine
where the problem is," he said. "So far, nothing that comprehensive has
been done."

Dvorsky also said the solution will have to address broad problems for
minorities, such as education and poverty.

The study found that black youngsters were in the highest-risk categories
for weakened family structures, learning and behavioral disorders, gang
affiliation, teen pregnancies, and drug abuse.

"These categories affect a student's willingness and ability to perform in
school," the study said.

In addition, black children in Iowa experienced shorter gestation periods
and lower birth weights than white infants. The black infant-mortality rate
in Iowa is four times that of white infants, the study found.

The study also noted that while the state's overall unemployment rate
hovers around 2.6 percent, the rate for blacks in Iowa is 10.5 percent. The
overall jobless rate for youths in the formative years of 16 to 19 is 7.5
percent, while black youngsters face a 39.9 percent jobless rate, the study
found.

Vilsack warned that the incarceration rate has ripple affects through black
society, because those sent way for lengthy prison terms return to the
community to find families shattered and their ties to the community
broken, launching a downward spiral into a life of crime.