Hunter
10/01/23
The Prison Policy Initiative ranks Iowa’s racial disparity in the corrections system 7th highest in the nation.
Iowa Capital Dispatch reports US Bureau of Justice Statistics show Black Iowans make up 25 percent of people in prisons and jails, despite being only 4 percent of the population. That’s an incarceration rate two and a half times higher than Canada and the United Kingdom’s combined.
Veronica Fowler with the ACLU of Iowa says the study shows that the cards are stacked against black people in the legal system every step of the way. She told Iowa Capital Dispatch that one step state leaders could take is to treat people with addiction rather than punishment, noting it’s cheaper than incarceration.
The legislature has passed twice on a bill proposed by Governor Kim Reynolds that would ban racial profiling by law enforcement.