Iowa DOC Declines to Privatize State Prison Healthcare
When the Iowa Department of Corrections (DOC) announced in July 2025 that it was beginning to seek proposals from private companies to take over health care services in state prisons, it prompted a mass exodus of staff. Over the course of several months, more than 60 of the roughly 300 employees in the state’s prison medical system resigned, with the expectation of pay cuts and a potential loss of their retirement plans and other benefits being major concerns. The state, according to The Gazette, cited rising operating costs and the need to update electronic medical records as reasons for the shift.
But in a meeting on November 14, 2025 with employees, Iowa DOC Director Beth Skinner reversed course and announced that the state had not accepted any bids and would drop plans to privatize. According to a medical employee who spoke to The Midwest Newsroom, the DOC may still consider a private contract for medical record updating. Multiple employees told the same reporter that the quality of prisoners’ healthcare would have declined had the outsourcing been approved.
While Iowa’s privatization scheme is now off the table, the resignations that followed the initial announcement are exacerbating an understaffing crisis. As The Midwest Newsroom also reported, at least 40 healthcare workers have left the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, the state’s main medical screening prison, since July. There are only 15 full-time nurses at the facility, which has a population of 915 prisoners. According to one nurse who works there, extra shifts are routine and guards are being trained to distribute pills to prisoners to fill in staffing gaps.
Additional sources: The Gazette, Iowa Capital Dispatch, The Midwest Newsroom
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login