Winners

The last time we checked in with Randy Ruiter was in 1999 when he was the subject of a Cityview cover story about identity theft. At the time, he was holed up in a cell with two other inmates at the Clarinda Correctional Facility after facing charges of 22 counts of theft, forgery and resisting arrest in five counties. He told us he used methamphetamine and that it was estimated that he had forged more than $100,000 worth of goods. And though we're not surprised that people make the same mistake twice, we did raise an eyebrow when the Indianola Police Department called in the middle of the holiday season to inform us that they had arrested Ruiter again for identity theft. The kicker, however, was that they found a laminated copy of the Cityview cover story about him in the back seat of his car. Wouldn't you think a guy so eager to steal someone's name wouldn't be so narcissistic about his own?

With Iowa voters already gagging as party leaders set their sights on the upcoming legislative session by loudly pimping their pet issues regardless of whether they have any bearing on the lives of average (let alone, low-income) residents, Des Moines Representative Ed Fallon announced last week that he would push for increased funding to combat appallingly high rates of elevated blood-lead levels among metro children. Though outlawed more than two decades ago, lead-based paint still covers (or crumbles off) the walls of many homes in Des Moines' oldest neighborhoods, resulting in an inexcusable percentage of local children - as much as 13 percent in some pockets of the city - exhibiting health-impairing levels of lead in their blood. In past sessions, policymakers have failed to give proper weight to legislation proposed by Rep. Wayne Ford, which aimed to raise the amount of public money directed to low-income families attempting to remove the toxic decor from their living rooms. But while fiscal conservatives have balked in the past, saying the measure smacks of home-repair subsidies, Fallon, with the support of Sen. Jack Hatch (who also happens to be in the housing sector), said last week that he'd push for a $1 million increase in funds for lead paint removal when the session convenes. After all, most medical practitioners would likely agree that even if it is a hand out for home repairs, it's time to get out of the environmental middle ages when it comes to basic health standards.

Losers

It sounds like a no-brainer: in a maximum security prison, the inmates are guarded by corrections officers, not the guys hired to help the inmates assemble office furniture. In a maximum security prison, security cameras are monitored and guard towers are manned. And, if, in an extreme scenario an inmate escapes, local authorities are alerted immediately to protect the public from potential harm. Unfortunately, according to a report released last week by the Department of Corrections' inspector general, such seemingly common-sense procedures were not in place at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP) in November when two violent offenders escaped from the Fort Madison facility. With firings and reassignments shedding seven employees at ISP in the immediate aftermath of the prison break, the inspector general's report revealed enough systemic failures to make the public relations exercise in human resource shuffling look like little assurance for rattled taxpayers. According to the inspector, the two men who escaped were first left under the supervision of prison industries supervisors when the shift for the attending correctional officers ended for the day. Then, missing for more than an hour without anyone noticing, the two men were visible on multiple cameras as they moved between and through buildings before scaling a 30-foot wall to freedom. And, perhaps the most concerning indictment for public safety, the prison supervisors only reported the escaped men to local police a full hour after they were determined missing and two hours after citizens had reported the stolen vehicle in which the two men fled Fort Madison. So, while the report didn't shake Gov. Tom Vilsack's faith that the weaknesses in the system have been corrected, we're thinking eastern Iowa locksmiths may be seeing increased business in the new year, especially if inmates' reports of increasingly intolerable conditions at ISP have any merit. CV

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