No 'Justice' Center for Now; Let's Ask Ourselves Why (Blog)

For me the reasons to campaign against the "Justice" Center bond are simple. Without justice in Johnson County, Iowa, why would taxpayers support spending millions of dollars to build a presumptuously named "Justice" Center? 

We have an incompetent county attorney and no semblance of justice at this time. Those who attempt to murder another human being get little jail time or no jail time. Those individuals include Branden Plummer, a former University of Iowa student who was originally charged with attempted murder of a police officer and later was allowed to plead to lesser charges. Plummer was sentenced to two months in jail with credit for time served and to a five-year suspended prison sentence that he will serve if he violates his two-year probation. Double-murderer Kyle Marin, now in prison for life after being prosecuted in Linn County, was on probation when he murdered two 18-year-old Kirkwood students, who were supposedly friends of his. Why was he free? Because Johnson County didn't do its job and lock him up.

Marin repeatedly violated his probation but was not incarcerated. Poor young man, give him another chance. Johnson County gave him another chance and two young women are dead because Johnson County repeatedly gave him another chance.

On the other end of the criminal justice spectrum are those of us like me and Donald Baxter. Both of us campaigned vigorously and publicly against county attorney Janet Lyness the first time she ran for office against Nick Maybanks, an assistant Linn County attorney. We subsequently found ourselves in jail for the first time in our lives for questionable reasons.

Donald Baxter, a bicyclist, defended himself from an irate driver who repeatedly hit him in the head with a telescoping ice scraper, while I had the temerity to disagree with a biased police officer's interpretation of a motorist-bicyclist incident he didn't see.

Was it coincidence or political payback in the courtroom when Donald and I were both convicted? 

Those of us who have experienced what passes for justice in this county don't have the confidence in law enforcement that we had before we experienced law enforcement and "justice" here.

Nor are we alone. Lots of people have experienced Iowa City Police Department's version of "law enforcement" and the county attorney's prosecution, as well as judges who clearly know and tend to favor the prosecution. 

Some people also complain about the University of Iowa police who back up the Iowa City police, but I have no experience with the UI police so I can't address that issue.

Jon Deeth, who supported the passage of the jail bond, offered what I think is the best explanation of why more voters didn't support the bond. He said that those of us who have had bad experiences with the ICPD and the UI campus police have no other way to protest the way we were treated other than to vote against the "Justice" Center.

Committee members can't understand why we wouldn't take our complaints about the Iowa City Police Department to the Citizens Police Review Board or the Iowa City Council instead of voting against the new jail bond. What I should have said in the meeting and didn't say, is that I won't vote for the new jail until Janet Lyness is no longer the Johnson County Attorney.

Both Martha Hampel, who not only opposes the jail but also opposes redlight cameras, and I agree that the "Justice" Center is poorly named. I think the name is presumptuous; she thinks the name is insulting and also too vague. The name doesn't indicate to voters what it is. I suggested courthouse annex/jail as a substitute for "Justice" Center. "Annex" comprises a variety of functions, including additional court rooms, public meeting areas, drug court, and so on. "Jail," of course, is self-explanatory.

My husband, a former police officer and Johnson County taxpayer, thinks that the new courthouse annex and jail costs too much. He'd like to see a lower price tag to reflect the national decline in real wages (what your money can buy) for the middle and working classes. County supervisor Terrence Neuzil agrees the jail cost should be lower.

Few opponents can afford higher taxes, though many of the people who support the new jail can. Even renters would feel the higher tax in rent. Don't think that Iowa City landlords don't pass on every expense that the market will bear to renters and then some.

We all have our reasons for opposing the jail. For Sean Curtin and others, it's all about incarceration for minor drug offenses.

We also have a suspicion that if the new jail has far more beds (243) than the current jail (46 double-bunked=92 beds), more people will be arrested and go to jail. 

However, the purpose of our last meeting with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee was to find points to agree on. Martha and I originally came as observers expecting a refined sales pitch. We assumed that the committee would continue to pat themselves on the back and blame the voters for the bond's failure, which was the thrust of the 11/7 meeting.

Security is an issue that interests me on the plus side, although I certainly don't represent Martha or any other jail opponent in that respect. We all come at our opposition to the jail from different points of view, although there is some overlap.

It's truly unfortunate from a campaign strategy standpoint that Sheriff Lonnie Pulkrabek spoke publicly of implementing airport-style security like the National Transportation Safety Administration's screening during the campaign. He later disavowed supporting that level of screening, but the damage was done in the minds of some jail bond opponents, especially those fearful of intrusive body searches.

Sheriff Pulkrabek has facts and figures at his disposal, all of which are helpful, but otherwise I think he's too disappointed and angry that the jail bond was defeated to engage constructively with jail opponents. I understand his disappointment and anger and feel some sympathy. Though divisive, he has a lot of skin in the game.

For example, Sheriff Pulkrabek mentioned that Sumner, Iowa Police Chief Dennis Cain was recently shot in the head. Actually, Cain was shot in the neck, thumb, and shoulder as he pursued two bank robbers. Another police officer, Mark Domino, was shot in the arm, then treated and released, but the details of the shootings aren't as important as Sheriff Pulkrabek's point about security, which is well taken.

Jim McGarragher, the attorney on the committee, and Terrence Neuzil, a county supervisor, were most helpful, with Geri Allen of Correctional Services right behind them in terms of a receptive attitude and a willingness to engage respectfully with jail opponents.

Jim McGarragher's stories of past security breaches in the courthouse made an impression on me. He also stressed the lack of handicapped access to the courthouse. Apparently, the committee as a whole didn't think that stories of past security breaches would be helpful or safe in their campaign to pass the jail bond, but I think they were wrong. Most security issues are obvious, especially to a criminal.

At the tail end of the meeting after most of the committee had left, Jim McGarragher told a few compelling stories about what he has experienced in the way of security breaches. Someone fired a gunshot through his window for starters.

McGarragher's stories gave me something to think about. As a former social worker I was required to testify in child welfare cases at the Linn County Courthouse, so I was already aware that Linn County has courtroom security that the Johnson County Courthouse does not have and probably should have. McGarragher is most concerned about weapons like guns and knives. A metal detector would pick those up.

He told Martha and me a story of how when Linn County's security screening was first implemented, those entering the courthouse spontaneously threw guns and knives into the bushes in front of the courthouse. Many forgot their weapons when they left, and maintenance or landscaping workers found them later.

McGarragher isn't worried about being manhandled by a defendant or plaintiff unless weapons are involved. I agree. It's one thing to be attacked by someone without weapons. It's another to be shot or stabbed. McGarragher is willing to take his chances as long as the attacker or would-be attacker has no weapons.

For security reasons, the courthouse would apparently be locked from the outside if the greenhouse annex/jail was attached as planned, but not from the inside (fire code regulations). All people entering the courthouse would have to enter through the attached greenhouse after being screened for weapons. The form that screening would take hasn't been explained, but it would not be NTSA-type screening.

Martha argued that McGarragher is in just as risky an environment in a convenience store, but McGarragher said that heightened emotions in a court of law create a much more dangerous environment. He mentioned domestic assault, divorces, and those who lose valuable property by court order as examples.

Sheriff Pulkrabek did give us some useful facts. Transporting prisoners costs between $30,000 and $90,000 a year. Housing prisoners out of county, most often in Washington or Muscatine County jails, costs over $1 million a year and would cost $2 million a year if Sheriff Pulkrabek didn't get quantity discounts.

Jim McGarragher asserted that Iowa City police officers don't think about the number of jail beds available when they arrest people. Martha denied that. She said that Caroline Dieterle, another jail opponent, used to work at the jail checking people in and out. When the jail was full, Dieterle told her and others, word would go out to the police to slow down on arrests. 

The conversation continues. Show up if you can, although if you work regular daytime hours, know that meetings usually occur at 4:00 p.m. on weekday afternoons in the Johnson County Administration Building. And stay tuned to the Johnson JailWatch website for updates.