Lawmakers aim to restrict release of jail booking photos

by Jared Strong, Iowa Capital Dispatch
January 16, 2024

Legislation that might prevent the immediate release of most jail booking photos in Iowa received preliminary approval by a House subcommittee on Tuesday.

House Study Bill 531 would allow county jails to withhold the photos they possess of people who are arrested until those people are convicted, with some exceptions.

“There are plenty of examples of people whose photos have been published all over, maligned on Facebook or wherever else, only to be found innocent,” said Rep. Bill Gustoff, a Des Moines Republican who led the subcommittee. “And yeah, I know people who have had to live with the consequences of that, who were found not to have done anything wrong in the first place.”

The proposed legislation has exceptions for when a photo depicts a fugitive or if the person poses an imminent threat to public safety, and if a judge orders the release of a photo.

But groups that represent the state’s attorneys and law enforcement said the photos are of public interest and that even if they are withheld, the details of the arrests might still be publicly available in text.

“All this is doing is removing a picture,” said Doug Struyk, of the Iowa State Bar Association. “That seems like a tremendous half-measure that … doesn’t appear to go towards one of the major stated causes.”

Catherine Lucas, an attorney for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Iowa State Patrol and the Division of Criminal Investigation, said the photos are important to help residents correctly identify who has been accused of a crime.

“We think there’s a public safety interest in these photos, especially in an age where multiple people have the same name,” Lucas said.

Rep. Jerome Amos Jr., a Waterloo Democrat on the three-person subcommittee, questioned what prompted the bill but said he knew of people in the same situation and agreed to recommend it for consideration by the House’s full public safety committee.

Amos and Gustoff did not provide specific examples of innocent people whose reputations were impugned by the release of their jail booking photos during the subcommittee meeting. The bill comes after the arrest of an Iowa senator during the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa last year.

Sen. Adrian Dickey, a Republican from Packwood, was charged with interference with official acts for allegedly refusing a deputy sheriff’s request to move off a roadway during the ride in Sac County in July. The county attorney dismissed the charge several months later because “there is not enough evidence to prove this matter beyond a reasonable doubt,” court records show.

The arrest was widely reported, but many news organizations published Dickey’s official Senate photo rather than his booking photo, according to an Iowa Capital Dispatch review of the articles. However, the booking photo accompanies at least two news articles that are still available online.

Dickey did not immediately respond to a request to comment for this article. He insisted from the start that he was innocent.

Most Iowa counties produce the jail photos upon request, but Polk County, for example, posts them online with a disclaimer that says: “Record of an arrest is not an indication of guilt.”

Lisa Davis-Cook, of the Iowa Association for Justice, said the publication of jail booking photos can have long-lasting repercussions for those who are not ultimately convicted of the crimes for which they were arrested.

“Their mug shots are put up all over the internet, and they’re never charged beyond that,” Davis-Cook said. “They never go to trial. The charges are dismissed. And that is still out there for employers or potential employers to see. For people they want to rent a home from, any number of things. The parents at their kids’ school.”

It’s unclear when the bill might be considered by a full committee of legislators.

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