INMATE COSTS: Costs Increasing For Iowa

A state audit shows the number of inmates in Iowa is increasing, and so is the cost of housing them.  

The audit collected data on Iowa’s nine correctional facilities over the past five years.  It shows the average cost per inmate ranges from about $20,000 a year at the North Central Correctional Facility in Rockwell City to nearly $50,000 at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale.

On average, it cost $81.17 a day to house an inmate in Iowa in 2011.  That’s about 8-percent more than in 2007.

The average number of inmates also increased by 53 to 8,816.