The job of a county attorney has lots of pressure associated with it.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn is in his first year as the new county attorney. He says he’s not getting help from the state level as Iowa’s prisons are at 124-percent capacity and are projected to be at 143-percent by 2027. He explains, due to the overcrowded prison system, judges are under pressure to not send people to prison and the Iowa Parole Board is under pressure to release convicts from prison.

“I saw a presentation from representatives from the parole board where they made it very clear: the sole criterion they consider when determining whether or not to release someone from prison is whether or not the person is a threat to the community.”

Laehn says because of the reality he is facing, he is choosing to make plea agreements to send criminals to the county jail, knowing that they might also get probation after they serve their jail sentence on a more serious criminal charge. 

“Here’s the difference between jail and prison. Any sentence that’s more than one year has to be in a state prison. If the sentence is one year or less that person is sentenced to serve their period of incarceration in a county jail. I would rather send someone to jail for nine months, knowing that they are going to spend nine months in jail, than send someone to prison for two years, knowing it’s likely they are going to be released on parole after a couple of months.”          

Laehn adds there is no parole when someone is sentenced to serve time in a county jail. He points out, because of the prisons are overcrowded, it has caused the criminal justice system in Iowa to be broken. To hear more from Laehn, listen to today’s and yesterday’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.