The Iowa Supreme Court Thursday upheld a 1998 law that allows the state to keep some sex offenders locked up even after they’ve served their prison sentence. 33-year old Elroy Morrow, the first person to be held under the new law, sued saying the law violated his rights by singling out sex offenders. Morrow’s lawyer, Kent Simmons, says he may file for reconsideration. Simmons says the state hasn’t proven it can help sex offenders by keeping them locked up.Simmons says he’s worried the state will eventually try to keep all violent offenders locked up. He says there’s already been a movement in the legislature to do just that.Simmons says people don’t understand what it’s like for someone to lose their freedom.He says people might understand the issue a little better if they looked at how much time his client has already spent in prison.This was the first challenge of the new law, twelve other sex offenders in the program have appealed their cases to the Supreme Court.
