Iowa Fights On

Members of AFSCME Council 61 are not giving up on their drive for legislation banning the placement of Iowa inmates in private prisons. Last year, the council helped pass a measure that did just that only to see it vetoed by Gov. Terry Branstad (R). Branstad did not run for re-election, however, and the council strongly supported pro-union, anti-privatization candidate Tom Vilsack (D) who won the election to replace him.

Also in Iowa, the state Board of Corrections recently scratched a proposal from CCA to build and operate a 750-bed medium-security prison near Des Moines. CCA was the only company to submit a proposal to the board, but Board Chairwoman Mildred Elliott said even if other proposals had come in, “we didn’t have enough” from CCA to make a good decision. Elliott said she doesn’t expect further discussion on private prisons for at least a year.

In Ottumwa, city officials missed a key filing deadline for construction of a private prison, following a public forum held by AFSCME member Steve Siegel, who is running for the state House of Representatives. The meeting on prison privatization drew local leaders and media, who listened with interest to the abysmal performance records of private prison companies and their dubious claims of money savings.