Iowa Warden Abruptly Retires During COVID-19 Investigation
Coralville, Iowa – An Iowa prison warden abruptly retired last month after state officials began investigating whether his facility ignored guidelines intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus, records show.
James McKinney sent a one-sentence email on May 8 to state Department of Corrections Director Beth Skinner saying he was retiring that day as warden of the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, according to information the Cedar Rapids Gazette obtained in a public records request. McKinney’s email was sent two hours after Skinner announced in an email to staff that she had found an interim warden for the prison.
“This facility deserves strong and steady leadership,” Skinner wrote. “A number of decisions have been made over the past several months that have resulted in my ordering an investigation into these issues.”
Those decisions and exactly which guidelines may not have been followed were not detailed in the records obtained by The Gazette. McKinney did not return a message seeking comment.
A coronavirus outbreak among inmates and staff at the prison began in April. According to the department, 22 inmates and two staff members at the Coralville facility have tested positive. In all the other state facilities, seven staff members have tested positive.
The Coralville facility is a medium-security prison and serves as the admissions center for all those in the state convicted and sentenced to time in state prisons. As such, it would be imperative for the facility to follow following guidelines to try to prevent the virus from spreading to the state’s other eight prisons.
– Associated Press
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