District 39 State Senator Kevin Kinney (D) of Oxford says the state needs to provide better protection and support to correctional officers in the wake of the murders of a nurse and guard by two inmates at the Anamosa State Penitentiary last week.

The incident is shedding light on how underfunded and understaffed the state’s correctional facilities are and Kinney says it’s been a problem for too long, “The institutions, we’ve had a status quo budget for the department of corrections for, ever since I’ve been in the legislature we’ve argued for staffing at these institutions. We have one correctional offer for every 30 to 50 people, it’s a situation (Anamosa) in which we’ve been told it’s going to happen and unfortunately it did.”

A report also revealed that at the time of the murders, the Anamosa prison housed 945 inmates while it’s capacity was rated for only 911. A former member of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Kinney says he spent time as a jail supervisor and knows how difficult it can be for corrections staff when you’re dealing with people who aren’t the “cream of the crop.” He says the two inmates charged with the Anamosa prison murders are ultimately to blame, but he hopes a bipartisan effort can carve out more money for the Department of Corrections when legislators begin working on the state’s budget next week.