Iowa’s department of Corrections will have to cut eight million dollars in spending because of budget reductions. Prison spokesman Fred Scaletta says the wardens and directors worked hard to cut budgets both inside and outside the prison walls. He says 100 open jobs won’t be filled inside the prisons, 14 people could be laid off, 20 spots in Community Corrections will be left unfilled, with one layoff possible there. Scaletta says prisons are looking at cutting back payments to service providers.That will include educational services like G-E-D diplomas, adult basic education, and some substance-abuse programs. It would cut overhead to free prisoners early, but Scaletta explains community programs to monitor and treat offenders also face cutbacks.He says it costs more per day to house an inmate than to supervise someone in the community, but there’s still some expense to monitor offenders. Scaletta says dozens of jobs have already been left unfilled for budgetary reasons, and the latest state funding cuts leave Corrections forced to cut staff and services deeply with little reserve left.
