IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A public record shows that Iowa’s new prison for male offenders wasn’t expected to be fully operational until fall 2015 even before workers discovered the latest delay-causing problem.
An extension signed by the Department of Corrections with a contractor in June 2014 said that occupancy of the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison would be “completed in the fall of 2015.”
The next month, testing found that smoke evacuation systems in the inmate housing units were flawed. Workers are trying to bring the buildings up to the fire code.
Corrections’ deputy director Brad Hier said the fall 2015 date was a conservative ballpark estimate and no longer has relevance. He says the department hopes to open the prison as soon as it’s safe, which could still be sometime this year.
