Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Copyright: 1999, The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://www.dmregister.com/ Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Author: William Petroski PREVENTION IS LONG-TERM STRATEGY TO SLOW PRISON GROWTH, GOVERNOR SAYS Iowa leaders recognize that significant changes are needed to curb the dramatic growth of Iowa's prison system, said Gov. Tom Vilsack. Projections for continued steep increases in inmate population and prison spending over the next decade prompted discussions earlier this year between legislators and prison officials, Vilsack said in an interview last week. One of their findings was that about half of the inmates entering Iowa's prisons have violated parole or probation, so more emphasis on community corrections programs is needed, he said. The Legislature has since approved an increase in spending for community corrections, and there is short-term evidence that the prison population is leveling off at about 7,300 inmates, Vilsack noted. "Long-range, though, it will take a real commitment to a series of services that state government will provide in partnership with local government and the private sector," he said. "We have to start with a better educational system statewide." If Iowans are serious about preventing people from going to prison, they must prevent them from becoming alienated from society at an early age, Vilsack said. Those efforts should include parental education, early childhood education and reducing class sizes so "youngsters are not marginalized by the education system." The governor said he is particularly interested in recent brain research involving children. Such research has found that children who are abused or who live in constant fear have overdevelopment of the primal parts of their brains. Such children have a "much more sensitive fight-or-flight mechanism," he said. In school, these children are unable to concentrate as well as others, he said. "You are constantly being stimulated in the wrong way. You become aggressive, a discipline problem, and the cycle which ultimately leads to prison begins," he said. Vilsack, a Democrat, also said he is willing to work with Republican legislators on criminal sentencing issues. A state commission is expected to make recommendations for changes in sentencing laws to the session of the Iowa Legislature that convenes in January. "I think it is pretty clear as it relates to nonviolent criminals that there are a wide variety of additional sanctions and ways that they can be held responsible without the necessity of using a very expensive prison bed. We are looking at those," Vilsack said. Those types of sanctions can range from stiff fines to community service work programs to restitution to many other options. State leaders also should consider the types of people in prison, the governor added. He said he is concerned that many men and women in prison have had addictions or mental health problems in the past. Vilsack said he plans to look for ways to use some of the state's share of money from a legal settlement with the tobacco industry to improve health care so that fewer people enter prison because of such problems. He also said he is committed to strong education programs and substance-abuse treatment inside Iowa's prisons. "It doesn't do a whole lot of good to imprison somebody and then let them out five years later without any education or skill," he said. "You have to give them the tools to succeed." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea