Iowa

Map of Iowa with spikes representing the active metric for each facility.

1

440

870

Spikes represent the cumulative cases in a facility for incarcerated people

Statewide among incarcerated people

Cases

Cumulative Case Rate

Data Grade

State Facilities

4,870

60%

Federal Facilities

Unavailable

Unavailable

ICE Detention Centers

28

45%

Statewide among staff

Cases

Data Grade

State Facilities

705

Federal Facilities

Unavailable

ICE Detention Centers

Unavailable

Facilities by

FacilityIncarcerated PeopleStaff

Anamosa State Penitentiary

State Facilities

870155

Newton Correctional Facility

State Facilities

83057

Mt Pleasant Correctional Facility

State Facilities

79160

Clarinda Correctional Facility

State Facilities

60562

Fort Dodge Correctional Facility

State Facilities

56591

Data Reporting & Quality Scorecard

Data Reporting
& Quality Grade
F

This scorecard assesses data reporting and quality for the state department of corrections in Iowa. Read more about our scoring methodology and to see how this jurisdiction compares to other state and federal systems.

Scores assessed as of May 10, 2021. Scores will be reevaluated on a monthly basis.

Data reporting for incarcerated people
Cumulative Casesreported at the facility level

By facility

Cumulative Deathsreported at the facility level

By facility

Active Casesreported at the facility level

By facility

Tests Administeredreported at the facility level

By facility

Populationnot reported

None

Vaccinationsnot reported

None

Data reporting for staff
Cumulative Casesreported at the facility level

By facility

Cumulative Deathsreported at the facility level

By facility

Active Casesreported at the facility level

By facility

Tests Administerednot reported

None

Populationnot reported

None

Vaccinationsnot reported

None

Data quality
Machine ReadableNo

No

Regularly UpdatedYes

Yes

Clearly DefinedYes

Yes

Contextualized HistoricallyNo

No

Legal Filings and Court Orders Related to COVID

1

number of courts

1

number of facilities

1

compassionate releases granted

1

filings coded by our team

Our project collaborates with Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, and Zealous to collect legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration. Together, we then organize and code them into the jointly managed Health is Justice litigation hub for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. The majority of the legal documents in the Health is Justice litigation hub are federal court opinions, but we are expanding to state legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.

In addition to the Health is Justice litigation hub, our project also manages additional data self-reported by advocates regarding COVID-19-related legal filings involving incarcerated youth and individuals in immigration detention.

For more COVID-19-related legal filings, please visit the University of Michigan Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, COVID-19 Special Collection.

Prison and Jail Releases Related to COVID

We collect data on jurisdictions across the U.S. that have released people from adult prison and jail custody in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

JurisdictionFacility/facilitiesAuthorizing agent(s)Date*Overall population reduction/ total # of releases**Population prior to releases***Known facility capacity****Release detailsSource
IowaStatewide prisonsParole Board5/13/2020100085196933Other
PolkCounty-wide jails4/20/20207001000
  1. For the most part, we only include release efforts where the data source includes some sort of programmatic description of who is being released (e.g., people with technical violations of parole, people charged with non-violent crimes, etc.). You can find our full prison releases dataset here and jail releases dataset here.

  2. *date of releases, if available. Otherwise, date on which releases first were reported.

  3. **total number of releases reported when available. Otherwise, the change in population to which the releases contributed is reported.

  4. ***last reported inmate population before releases were realized

  5. ****capacity is often determined differently across jurisdictions and some facilities often report more than one capacity number. In these cases, we report the higher of the figures available.

Grassroots and Community Organizing Efforts Related to COVID

Our team collects data on grassroots and community organizing efforts by incarcerated people, their families, community-based organizations, nonprofits, and advocates aimed at influencing government agencies to protect the lives of people incarcerated in prisons, jails, and detention centers against the threats posed by COVID-19.

Target facilityCountyDate of actionOrganizationType of effortInternal/ externalEffort concernsSource
ICE Linn County JailLinn County5/8/2020Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement, Iowa City Catholic Worker House, Families of detaineesPress ConferenceInternalAccelerated releases
StatewideStatewide9/22/2020Des Moines BLM and Sponsored by American Friends Service Committee, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Eastern Iowa Community Bond, Iowa Justice for Our Neighbors and Central Iowa DSAMarch/Protest–ExternalInternalAccelerated releases
StatewideStatewide4/16/2020ACLU of IowaLetter/PetitionInternalAccelerated releases
StatewideStatewide1/30/2021American Friends Service Committee Iowa, Center for Worker Justice, Central Iowa Democratic Socialists of America, Des Moines Black Liberation Movement, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Des Moines Showing Up for Racial Justice, Forward Latino, Great Plains Action Society, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Iowans for Immigrant Freedom, LULAC, Prairielands Freedom Fund.LetterInternalAccelerated releases, Sanitation improvements
  1. You can find our full dataset here.