By Finch VanDyk, Iowa City
Imagine a utopia. A city of heaven, perfect in every way. What do you see? Sunshine, probably. Clean air. I imagine rolling green parks and beautiful buildings made of glass. You might see electric cars or shiny, speedy public transit.
What are the people in this city like? What do they do? Do they work fulfilling jobs? Spend their days with meaning, come home each night to warm, well-light homes? Are they kind? Do they help each other?
What kind of crime rate do you picture in this utopian city?
Iowa City is not a utopia. I will not ask you to stretch your imagination that far. But, while falling short of utopian, it strives to be a healthy city. A thriving city. The kind that people fly cross-country just to visit. Where streets are clean, children play in the parks, people are happy and downtown bustles on the weekends. What makes this kind of city?
Perhaps we can agree, to start, that healthy cities have healthy citizens — in a healthy city, everyone has enough to eat. In a healthy city, you can get medical care when you need it. Children in healthy cities have access to a good education. In a healthy city, the community is housed; no one is sleeping on the streets.
In a healthy city, we may further conjecture, the government respects its citizens. The city government is responsible with city money. City decisions are made with the city’s best interest in mind. The leaders of a healthy city work hard to take care of its people.
Healthy cities value their communities. They pride themselves on the services they provide for their citizens. They have libraries, recreation centers, community centers. They invest in their public schools, teaching their children to become upstanding citizens. They have strong support systems. Help is available for people who need it in a healthy city.
Healthy cities see crime rates drop, not rise.
Iowa City strives to be a healthy city.
So why do we need a bigger jail?
The state of the current jail in Iowa City is deplorable; this is an inarguable fact. It is uninhabitable. It is an inhumane building in which to be locking our citizens. This is a problem that can and must be solved. But every solution proposed to this problem has included more beds. Why?
Proponents of these proposals cite overcrowding. There are too many people, where will we put them all?
Is this the kind of question that our healthy, ideal Iowa City asks? Does a healthy city make plans to expand its capacity for jailing its citizens?
Are we sure?
Let’s try out a few other questions and see if they ring closer to our vision. Perhaps, Why is the jail overcrowded in the first place? Or, What have we done to keep any of those people in the community? A healthy city might consider: How many people are in jail for nonviolent crime? And: Is imprisoning them the most effective way to address it?
A healthy city is concerned first for its citizens: How many of these crimes are crimes of desperation — committed because they are the only options left? What have we done to create a city that prevents these crimes? How many people are locked away who, if the city had invested instead in their well-being, would be home and safe?
A healthy city would ask, are we sure we’re doing everything we can do to keep our citizens out of the jail?
Healthy cities do not have a vested interest in incarcerating their citizens. They are focused instead on keeping their citizens healthy — fed, clothed, housed. They provide treatment for mental health crises. They care for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. They are committed to keeping community members in the community. They invest in every possible alternative to imprisonment.
Healthy cities don’t build bigger jails.
A shorter version of this letter was originally published in Little Village’s October 2025 issue.
