The head of Iowa’s prison system says in the past decade, Iowa is one of just two states in the country where there’s been an increase in homicides, robberies, rapes AND aggravated assaults. Iowa Department of Corrections director Jerry Bartruff says at the same time, the number of paroled prisoners who commit another violent crime is “creeping up.”
Bartruff says Iowa remains ‘fairly safe” and this data is “somewhat skewed” as PERCENTAGE increases “look huge” because Iowa’s population AND crime rate is small. However, the prison director says while there was a 10 percent DECLINE in violent crime in Iowa cities with more than 50-thousand residents last year — there was a 50 percent INCREASE in violent crime in Iowa cities with fewer than 10-thousand residents.
There are nearly 83-hundred inmates inside Iowa prisons today. About 20-thousand people are on probation, with nearly four-thousand others being regularly monitored by a parole officer. Bartruff’s agency is also monitoring about 17-hundred other people who are awaiting a criminal trial.
