The Iowa Department of Corrections has refused to change its administrative rules to ensure the state’s prisons do not illegally seize money from inmates, the state ombudsman’s office said.
In its newly released annual report, the Iowa Office of Ombudsman says it has been following procedures in Iowa prisons for years that violate Iowa law. Some of these practices are attributed to conflicts between Iowa law and state agency administrative rules.
According to the ombudsman, Iowa law requires county jails to provide necessary care to inmates who have objectively serious medical and dental needs. County sheriffs may then recover these costs from the inmates, but only if the inmates are found guilty of a crime and only after a cost bill is submitted to a county court for approval.
In a March 2024 report, the ombudsman’s office highlighted a variety of scenarios in which inmates at four different county jails had their commissary accounts seized in violation of state law.
In one incident, the Wapello County Jail deducted $130 from an inmate’s commissary bill to pay for medical bills, even though the man had not yet been convicted of a criminal charge. The ombudsman’s office informed the jail administrator of state law that requires a conviction before an inmate’s money is seized and suggested the county reimburse the inmate.
According to the ombudsman’s office, the prison director argued that a refund would create “accounting discrepancies” and that, to be fair, the prison should also make refunds to other inmates.
The ombudsman’s office said that since the report was released nine months ago, several Iowa prisons have committed to changing their procedures for recovering inmates’ medical costs. However, the ombudsman’s report says the Iowa Department of Corrections has refused to change its administrative rules governing county jails and medical costs to comply with state law.
The ombudsman’s office says the “much-needed” change would help clear up any confusion caused by prison administrators who continue to look to the outdated rules, rather than the Iowa Code, for guidance on how to calculate medical expenses legally. can be recovered in a manner.
The apparent conflict between DOC rules and state law was first noted by the ombudsman’s office seven years ago in 2017. At the time, the DOC declined to consider a rule change until the ombudsman met with the Jail Committee of the Iowa State Association of Counties. and received his support. The committee concluded that a change to the rules was not necessary and therefore no action was taken.
In its March 2024 report, the ombudsman argued that it was the DOC’s responsibility to ensure that its administrative rules complied with state law, and that it was also the DOC’s legal duty to consult local government groups in considering rule changes. “That burden should not have been passed on to our office,” the ombudsman’s office reported.
In her March 2024 response to the ombudsman’s recommendation for a rule change, DOC Director Beth Skinner said the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association and the Iowa State Association of Counties — both private nonprofit organizations — should provide county jails with guidelines for complying with state laws.
The DOC employs a prison inspector who is responsible for ensuring that the state’s prisons comply with Iowa law. However, Skinner told the ombudsman that the inspector “is not an accountant and/or financial auditor and is not able to provide ongoing financial guidance to each prison.”
In its new annual report, the Office of the Ombudsman says it will continue to recommend that the DOC revise its rules to bring them into compliance with state law.
Editor’s note: Reporter Clark Kauffman worked for the Iowa Office of Ombudsman from October 2018 through November 2019.
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This article originally appeared in the Des Moines Register: Iowa DOC accused of illegally seizing money from inmates in county jails
