Federal Prison Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2025
67 people were sentenced under the offense type "Prison Offenses" in the Southern District of Iowa in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 67 pleaded guilty, and 64 (96%) received a prison term with a median of 12.5 months. 87% of the guilty pleas were straight pleas with no written plea agreement.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2 › Prison Offense: Southern District of Iowa
In brief: 67 people were sentenced under the offense type "Prison Offenses" in the Southern District of Iowa in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 67 pleaded guilty, and 64 (96%) received a prison term with a median of 12.5 months. 87% of the guilty pleas were straight pleas with no written plea agreement.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 67 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Straight Pleas Were the Usual Form of Guilty Plea
All 67 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 13% had a written plea agreement, and 87% were straight pleas with no agreement. In all 94 districts, 99% of people in this offense type pleaded guilty.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to none of the 67 people (0%).
Criminal History Was Concentrated in the Highest Category
On criminal history, 37% of the group were in the highest category, category VI, and 3% were in the lowest, category I. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so these shares cannot be set beside military cases.
The records do not show how the criminal history category related to the prison term in any case.
Prison Terms
64 of the 67 people (96%) received a prison term, and 2 (3%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12.5 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 21.2 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less.
The median across all 94 districts for this offense type was 10 months, so this district's median was higher. The median for all offenses in the Southern District of Iowa was 80 months. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Escape and Contraband Guidelines
65 of the 67 cases used §2P1.1 (Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape) as the primary guideline. 2 cases used §2P1.2 (Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison).
These cases were 2% of the 4,208 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Position Against the Range
47 people (70%) received a sentence within the guideline range. 13 (19%) were below it without a government request, and 6 (9%) were below it at the government's request. 1 (1%) was above it.
The within-range share across all 94 districts was 63%. For all offenses in this district it was 37%.
Supervised Release and Financial Orders
53 people (79%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. No fine (0%) and no restitution (0%) was ordered.
Counts by Fiscal Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 22 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 45 people. The table shows 17 people in fiscal year 2023 and between 4 and 8 in the other listed years. Medians in the table run from 10 months to 24 months.
The table has no row for fiscal year 2019. The records cannot show why one year had more cases than another.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8 | 12 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2017 | 8 | 11.5 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2018 | 6 | 14 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2020 | 4 | 12.6 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2021 | 5 | 24 months | 5 of 5 |
| 2022 | 8 | 14 months | 8 of 8 |
| 2023 | 17 | 10 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 7 | 14 months | 7 of 7 |
| 2025 | 4 | 15 months | 4 of 4 |
What the Records Cannot Show
The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it. The records do not describe the circumstances of any escape or contraband case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of Iowa (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Iowa South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Prison Offenses" (67). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Child Pornography Sentences in the Southern District of Iowa, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.