Inmates from the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison delivered furniture to Maple Hall this winter break and may have been in student dorm rooms.

Director of Residence Randy Alexander said that during winter break, Iowa Prison Industries employees delivered file drawers that roll under desks. Alexander said inmates also delivered furniture to Maple Hall last summer and during the first few weeks of class.

“[The file drawer] was the last thing that wasn’t done. They have five or six floors done,” he said.

Roger Baysden, director of Iowa Prison Industries, said the inmates manufacture the furniture in Des Moines. A state employee uses a Prison Industries truck to deliver the file drawers to Maple Hall.

Baysden said usually five inmates and three staff people deliver and install the furniture. He said the work done by Prison Industries employees for Iowa State is typical.

“This is exactly what we did all summer long,” he said. “It’s something we’ve done for years.”

Baysden said the inmates who do the work are not dangerous.

“They are the lowest level of offender that we incarcerate,” he said. “They would be in for minor offenses, and they’re due for release sometime in the near future.

“There would be no violence in their background, and they have been exemplary inmates,” he said.

Baysden said using inmates is not exclusive to Iowa State.

“Any day of the week, there are about 200 inmates on the streets in Iowa,” he said. “The DOT [Department of Transportation] has used inmates for years.”

Alexander said the inmates are not considered a risk.

“We don’t have any murderers out delivering furniture,” he said. Staff members are with the inmates at all times, Alexander said.

He said over the summer the inmates were allowed in students’ rooms to install the furniture. He said the workers were probably in the rooms over winter break, but he did not know for sure.

Maple Hall Director Lynn Meyer said if inmates were allowed in student rooms, they were always supervised. Meyer said the people from the Prison Industries were good workers.

“The folks that we’ve worked with have been excellent to work with,” she said. “They have been sensitive to the residents’ needs and issues and have worked very well with our staff.”

David Harrington, community adviser for Cranor House in Maple Hall, said Meyer told the staff about the inmates delivering the furniture. The CAs then told the residents.

“As a student, I haven’t seen my peers have a problem with it at all,” said Harrington, senior in mechanical engineering. “They were seen as another person who makes furniture.”

Kate Epstein, resident of Shilling House in Maple Hall, said she knew the inmates delivered furniture at the beginning of the year.

“It’s a little odd, but I’m not too concerned about it,” said Epstein, freshman in biology. “We don’t have much interaction. We barely see them, and there are people keeping an eye on them.”

She said other residents were fairly comfortable with the inmates.

“I assume they are because we don’t talk about it much,” she said.

Jake Milton, freshman in business, said the inmates were well-behaved and in control when he saw them last summer. He said he was not worried about them.

“As long as they are watched, it’s not a big deal, but I can see how some people would be skeptical about it,” he said.

Iowa Prison Industries will continue to provide services for Iowa State, Baysden said. Bulletin boards have been contracted, and repairs and adjustments also will be made to existing dorm furniture.

Baysden said Iowa Prison Industries will provide the furniture for Hawthorn Court, the student apartment complex currently being built by the Department of Residence. Hawthorn Court’s furniture will be delivered in mid-May.