ISP got 121 more max security inmates during Anamosa transition

FORT MADISON – After nearly five months of requests for information about the 2023 transition of Anamosa State Prison, Iowa DOC officials have finally responded with information about the impact of the transition on Fort Madison’s Iowa State Penitentiary.

According to information from Department of Corrections Communications Director Nick Crawford obtained Thursday, the state transferred inmates into Fort Madison as a result of a reclassification of Anamosa to a medium security prison.

Pen City Current requested the information back in February when word spread of the transfer of additional maximum security inmates to Fort Madison. That information was received Thursday.

As part of the transition, Crawford said a total of 200 medium-custody inmates were transferred out of ISP in Fort Madison to five other prisons within the state.

The move made room in Fort Madison to transfer 121 maximum security inmates out of Anamosa to Fort Madison.

Crawford wouldn’t elaborate on the details of the transfer, including how and when the transfers took place, but said they were done in the first quarter of 2023.

“The transfers of inmates in and out of the Iowa State Penitentiary took place over a several-month period during the first quarter of the year,” Crawford said.

Following the transition of the security designation at Anamosa, Iowa DOC director Beth Skinner said the decision to make the transfers came after COVID-19 and with resources being freed up.

“Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, and in conjunction with Iowa’s prison population declining, IDOC has the bed space and resources needed to safely conduct and implement this transition,” said Skinner.

“This decision was made after much consideration and detailed planning, and we feel certain that now is the time to make this transition. By transitioning Anamosa State Penitentiary to a strictly medium security facility, IDOC can focus on providing even further treatment opportunities for the system’s medium-custody inmates, building upon two years of reducing Iowa’s recidivism rate.”