Supporters of Newton prisoners demand to know why AG is unjustly extending prison times

Families and supporters of prisoners at Newton Correctional Facility were promised answers last month, but they received none at the Iowa Board of Corrections meeting on Sept. 22 in Des Moines, and as a result it has only fueled frustrations over unjust civil commitment referrals.

Coupled with some people being in the wrong place due to a last-minute change in venue from the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility to the Iowa Department of Correction’s Central Office in Des Moines, which was to accommodate more public attendance, many visitors expressed their dissatisfaction.

Even more so when there were no explanations about the multi-disciplinary team’s assessments going to the attorney general’s office for review, being left unanswered and thereby extending prison time. Instead, the board was pummeled with more questions about the in-action and lack of programming.

Sonja Benavidez, of Geneseo, Ill., has a son incarcerated at Newton Correctional Facility who is eligible for parole, but she said he has not been cleared despite having a record of positive accomplishments, such as working as a special needs mentor and teaching welding to other prisoners, among others.

John Benavidez has been incarcerated since June 16, 2016. After successfully completing the Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP), he finished an exit interview on Sept. 21, 2022. Sonja said her son’s case was referred to the attorney general’s office 96 days later on Dec. 26, 2022.

Iowa law requires the multi-disciplinary team to assess whether a person meets the definition of a sexually violent predator within 30 days of receiving notice.

The state’s definition of a sexually violent predator says a person must be “convicted of a sexually violent offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent offenses, if not confined to a secure facility.”

Sonja told the board of corrections that John had scored a 4 out of 48 on the Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale (SOTIPS), which indicates a very low risk, or next to no risk, to reoffend. John has also not been evaluated by a psychologist and has not been found to have mental abnormalities.

Between her son not meeting the state’s definition of a sexually violent predator and the time it took for the multi-disciplinary team to refer the case to the attorney general, Sonja said these actions violate Iowa law and even contribute to adding time served to prisoner sentences and the overcrowding of prisons.

John was not allowed to be present for the review by the multi-disciplinary team, nor was he provided minutes regrading the decision.

He has also not been given a reason for the referral. In extra documents provided by Sonja, John said he never should have been submitted for referral.

“John made good use of his time and causes no trouble,” Sonja said. “He worked hard improving himself to learn responsibility, respect, empathy, self-regulation, communication and coping skills. At Newton, he completed (the Sex Offender Treatment Program) with no issues.”

Her son is also involved in pro-social activities such as learning an instrument, playing sports and attending church services. At the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, which is a medium security correctional facility in Coralville, John became a lead member for the facility’s dog program.

“Last year, John started video visits with his 11-year-old autistic son for the first time in seven years,” Sonja said, holding back tears. “Sorry, that makes me cry … He has a strong support system. We hope he’ll come home. His dad is 79 and just had heart surgery. We need him to help us on our acreage.”

PROBLEMS WITH CULTURE, PROBLEMS WITH PROCESS

The purpose of the state’s Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders (CCUSO) is to provide a secure, long-term and highly-structured setting to treat sexually violent predators who have served their prison terms but have also been found likely to commit further violent sexual offenses.

However, many of the families and supporters of incarcerated individuals at Newton Correctional Facility question why their loved ones are even being considered for the civil commitment by the multi-disciplinary teams, let alone having their cases sent to the attorney general for further review.

Some of the incarcerated individuals would be eligible for parole, but supporters allege prisoner sentences are being unlawfully extended by this process.

Dave Bovenmyer, a pastor at Stonebrook Community Church in Ames, spoke in support David Morrow, another prisoner at Newton Correctional Facility who regularly visited the church prior to incarceration. Like John Benavidez, Morrow was anticipating parole and was screened as a very low-risk to reoffend.

Morrow even scored 3 out of 48 points on the SOTIPS. But his case was sent to the attorney general’s office for potential civil commitment.

“This problem of referring people to the AG, and then the AG not looking at their cases until 90 days before release date has been a problem with our friend David Morrow,” Bovenmyer said to the board of corrections members. “His referral will likely extend his incarceration for 13 years.”

Bovenmyer suggested there are three factors that are leading to extended prison time, one is a cultural factor and the other two problems are with the process.

The first is what Bovenmyer called the “almost universally accepted cultural myth that sex offenders can seldom be rehabilitated.” Citing a 2019 Bureau of Justice Statistics study, he said sex offenders’ arrest and conviction rates were lower than all other released prisoners.

In the nine years it took to conduct the study, only 7.7 percent of released sex offenders were arrested for rape or sexual assault.

“So I ask you to push back against this cultural myth that sex offenders can rarely be rehabilitated,” Bovenmyer said. “The second problem is the extended wait time between a referral to the attorney general … The third problem is an inadequate process in determining who to refer to the attorney general.”

Bovenmyer pleaded with the board of corrections to work with the attorney general’s office to set up a process by which referrals can be evaluated within a few months. He also noted there seems to be no opportunity for the multi-disciplinary team to hear from the prisoner or their family or advisors.

“In David Morrow’s case, my wife and I are intimately aware of the roots of hurt and anger that contributed to David’s offense over 20 years ago,” he said. “And we are also closely aware of the process by which those roots have been greatly healed. But the inadequate process did not allow the MDT to hear any of this.”

Review the process, Bovenmyer told the board of corrections, not only for the future inmates but for those with pending referrals; which is especially important if the attorney general’s office is unwilling to or unable to speedily evaluate them. Bovenmyer’s wife, Dawn, reiterated many of these same points, too.

She also recalled the ending statements from Webster Kranto, vice-chair of the Iowa Board of Corrections, at the August meeting. Kranto had told guests, “…We’re going to have answers for you at our next meeting, if you can make it to our next meeting. I, myself, have questions for the MDT.”

The only items to appear on the September agenda other than public comments and open discussion was the fiscal year 2025 budget requests.

‘SILENT, MANDATORY MINIMUM’ AFFECTS MANY

Michelle Alfano, an educator from the Chicago area, has been advocating for Newton Correctional Facility prisoner Eric Strenge for some time. The multi-disciplinary team received notice of Strenge’s case around June 2022, but it was forwarded to the attorney general’s office for further review in November 2022.

She also alleged the multi-disciplinary team is taking too long to review cases, but even so she has argued Strenge doesn’t meet the state’s definition of a sexually violent predator, nor has the mental abnormality to be considered as such.

Alfano cited a story by the Cherokee Chronicle Times in which Maureen Hansen, a residential manager with the Department of Corrections, told the Cherokee County Board of Supervisors there has been a 50 percent increase in civil commitments in Iowa since 2015.

Which Alfano said is roughly around the time the sex offense treatment was moved from Mt. Pleasant to Newton.

“Newton is much larger than Mt. Pleasant, and beds need to be filled,” Alfano said. “And the MDT, I submit to you, is contributing to not only filling but overcrowding Iowa prisons … This is, in part, a result of the MDT referring way too many people to the attorney general, who are otherwise ready for release.”

Many of these incarcerated individuals, Alfano added, have completed their time and their treatment, have high privilege levels and are model teachers and leaders to others. Alfano said the referrals are extending prison time for years “in the form of a silent, mandatory minimum.”

When an article was published in the Newton News in August about the issues surrounding the actions of the multi-disciplinary team and the inaction from the attorney general’s office, Alfano said many incarcerated individuals contacted her and told her how they were impacted by the multi-disciplinary team.

“I made a sheet for each one of them,” she said while holding up a stack of papers. “I’m holding 70 cases. They represent Anthony, Vinny, Kim, John, Travis, Dale, Carl — I have about 70 people who in the last month have reached out to me and said, ‘I’m in the same boat as Eric,’ the person I’m helping.”

LACK OF PROGRAMMING DOESN’T BODE WELL FOR RE-ENTRY

Other speakers at the board of corrections meeting drew attention to the lack of prison programming, some of which they said was pulled after two employees of Anamosa State Penitentiary were killed by inmates in 2021. Two of the speakers were law students, and another two were educators.

Avery Epstein, a third-year law student at the University of Iowa College of Law, spoke in support of clients and former clients who are incarcerated at Iowa prisons. If the board asked inmates what programming looks like in prison, Epstein suggested they would say it is “virtually non-existent.”

While there are mandatory programs in prison, Epstein argued very few of the people in prison are allowed to participate.

The mandatory programs, too, are a “ruse” so that prisons do not have to provide any other programming. If an incarcerated individual is more than two years from parole or has a mandatory minimum, Epstein said do not even bother to apply. Prisoners also receive little to no help furthering their education, she said.

“They feel like the prison is against them learning,” she said. “When Iowa took away airbrushing, glasswork and wood shop, they took away the ability for inmates to have transferable skills that not only provide day-to-day meaning to the inmates but develop work ethic and train people to be productive members of society.”

Instead, many of the apprenticeships are janitorial and laundry positions, which Epstein argued does not further the ability of these men and women to grow.

“When I asked one inmate how the lack of programming affected him, he said he used to be focused. He had a regimen. He was learning and moving forward to be better, to better himself for society,” Epstein said. “Now, with proper programs stripped from Iowa prisons, he feels dehumanized. The people in Iowa prisons feel dehumanized.”

While they have committed crimes, Epstein added they are still human and should be allowed to learn and grow and train to be better.

“Iowa Department of Corrections has had the power to have accessible programming in the past, and has the power today to also have accessible programming,” Epstein said.

Andrew Wendel, another third-year law student at the University of Iowa College of Law, has been able to work with the Federal Criminal Defense Clinic for the past three years. Wendel also highlighted his concerns with the lack of programming in Iowa prisons, which can help inmates transition back into society.

With only mandatory programming in place in Iowa prisons, Wendel said incarcerated individuals have been left unprepared to re-enter the real world.

“For you or me, we would think getting out of prison as the happiest day of our lives, and truly in part it is,” Wendel said. “But the swath of anxiety and fear washes over them because the challenging re-entry awaits. Without adequate programming in prison, they are left without job qualifications.”

They also can’t develop hobbies to occupy their time. Instead, the prison system expects incarcerated individuals to change on their own.

“That is a cruel and unfair expectation of them,” Wendel said. “Because we all know what a failed re-entry system and a failed re-entry process looks like: another term of incarceration. It is our job as community members to stand up for them. And this board has the opportunity to make that change.”

Gina Hausknecht, a professor of English and the social and criminal justice program at Coe College, understands the limitations and challenges the department of corrections have faced. But Hausknecht also asked what the process and timeline would look like for volunteers to re-establish programs.

Other than possible costs for security needs, Hausknecht argued volunteers offer essentially no-cost programs for the department. She also advocated for better communication between those in attendance at the meeting and the board itself. Two minutes to speak at public comment doesn’t allow for meaningful dialogue.

“It’s one directional,” she said. “I would be really interested in how we can have more conversation, dialogue and feedback … to some of our concerns.”

Mary Cohen, an associate professor at the University of Iowa and author of the book “Music-Making in U.S. Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices,” had led the Oakdale Community Choir for 11 years. The inside-outside choir program would sing with incarcerated individuals in Iowa prisons.

“But we haven’t been able to re-start,” Cohen said. “I came here back in June to speak briefly about this and come on behalf of all the programming that we’ve not been able to get re-established. Since then, I discovered that one of the Oakdale Choir members, Romeo Hardin, committed suicide. It just tore me up.”

Cohen worries of a rumor that incarcerated individuals are being placed in solitary confinement for saying they are depressed.

“I hope that is not true, but I’ve heard it repeatedly,” she said. “…So I really, really hope there are some major changes toward deeper care for people in prison.”

From the research Cohen has done, she found incarcerated individuals with better care have more self-esteem, more motivation to be involved in programming, increased relationship with family and a deeper sense of community, and they have better attitudes towards fellow prisoners.

“What would have happened if Romeo had pro-social activities that he could have been involved in?”

Prior to adjournment, Kranto said he feels for all of the visitors who spoke and did not want them to feel like their comments fell on deaf ears.

“I’m fighting back tears as I listened to you all speak,” Kranto said. “I don’t want you to feel like no one’s listening to you. We are listening to you. There’s a lot of bureaucracy and a lot of stuff … Changes are being made, it’s just really slow.”