State will help counties with jail overcrowding

Iowa Department of Corrections Director “Kipp” Kautzky says the state will soon be able to help local law enforcement agencies with overcrowding problems by offering some state prison space.They will have space for 200 prisoners to be held while they await trial on local charges. Kautzky says county sheriffs across the state have to transport prisoners several hundred miles to find a place to hold them. Kautzky says the jail costs would be the same for the counties — around 48 dollars a day. Kautzky says in many cases the counties could save on transportation expenses.Kautzky says new parole policies have cleared out some types of prisoners earlier and allowed the state to offer the space to counties. He says the space will be available in January.