The Iowa House has voted to toughen Iowa’s law on habitual offenders and set a minimum 20-year prison sentence for people convicted of several serious crimes. Representative Steve Holt, a Republican from Denison, says the bill will close the revolving prison door for repeat offenders and make Iowa communities safer because it would be a mandatory sentence of at least two decades, since there would be no possibility for parole under the new system.
Multiple convictions for theft, harassment or possession of a controlled substance would not be considered when a court decides whether someone should be sentenced to 20 years as a habitual offender.
The clock for counting felony and aggravated misdemeanor convictions that would lead to getting a 20 year sentence wouldn’t start until the bill becomes law. Critics of the bill say states that passed similar laws in the 1990s saw dramatic increases in prison costs without a long-term drop in crime.
