The pace is quickening at the Iowa statehouse, as lawmakers aim to conclude the 2015 legislative session this week. In less than half an hour, a bill that outlines 561 million in spending for the state’s prison system and the Department of Public Safety cleared both the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House and is headed to the governor for review. Senator Rich Taylor, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, worked at the state’s maximum security prison for 27 years.

Representative Gary Worthan (WORTH-un), a Republican from Storm Lake, says the final product is a compromise that ensures the prison system gets more operating funds.

As of today, the state’s nine prisons housed nearly 83-hundred inmates. That’s almost 14 percent over the design capacity of the facilities. Another 31-thousand people are either being monitored by a parole officer or are living in a community-based correctional facility, like a half-way house or a work-release program.