Des Moines Register
ANAMOSA Two months after the violent deaths of a pair prison employees, Iowa s newly hired prison security czar has walked into a system that s still reeling in the aftermath.
Since the killings, allegedly by two prisoners in a botched escape attempt, staff at Iowa prisons twice have been assaulted by inmates; a prisoner died by suicide under supposedly close supervision; a search turned up caches of bomb-making materials; and prison programs remain shuttered for security reasons. There also are four ongoing investigations into the circumstances surrounding the slayings.
Even so, Brian Foster, the new director of institution security, is taking time to acquaint himself with the details of Iowa s prisons before taking decisive action, he told the Des Moines Register in his first public comments.