The Governor has selected the acting director to become the person to oversee the state’s prisons. Governor Chet Culver has appointed John Baldwin to lead the Iowa Department of Corrections and oversee the state’s nine prisons and nearly nine-thousand inmates.
Baldwin has been the acting director since January 19, 2007. Baldwin was named to the post after Gary Maynard resigned to become the secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services for the state of Maryland. Baldwin is a Fort Dodge native who has worked in the Iowa prison system for 30 years.
One of Baldwin’s top concerns is the status of the state penitentiary in Fort Madison. A consultant’s study released this month recommends that the state’s only maximum security facility be replaced with a new building.