Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg visited Guthrie Center on November 21.

Removing racial bias and reducing recidivism are some of the goals of a new committee that Iowa Lieutenant Governor Adam Gregg is chairing for the governor’s office.

Gregg says the committee has been meeting weekly for about a month, discussing the initial focus of convicts’ reentry into society and what the state can do to eliminate existing barriers to their success, “That’s the right thing to do for a lot of reasons. First of all it’s great for public safety because we don’t want them to come out and commit another crime. It’s also smart from a workforce standpoint because if we can train our prisoners to have skills to help them be successful they can help fill the jobs that are available all across our state and they’re also more likely then to be good citizens and to be productive citizens and to be taxpayers and all those great things so there’s a lot of good things that can come from doing that right.”

Gregg says the committee plans to meet for the next couple months to draft a list of recommendations for Governor Kim Reynold’s consideration during the upcoming state legislative session. He adds that while it’s not an easy issue to tackle, the committee will continue for the next year to focus on ridding racial bias in the criminal justice system.