(Radio Iowa) – People convicted of several serious crimes would face a minimum 20-year prison sentence without parole under a bill advancing in the Iowa House. Mahaska County Attorney Andrew Ritland says he’s prosecuted people with more than 10 separate felony convictions, but each sentence was no more than a year or two.

“So I do appreciate the intent of the bill,” Ritland said. “I appreciate holding people who clearly do not care about following the law to a higher account.” Wayne Ford, a former member of the Iowa House, says he and others worked hard to reduce the racial disparity in Iowa prisons after a 2007 report found the ratio of blacks to whites in Iowa prisons was highest in the nation. He’s urging lawmakers to reject the mandatory 20 year sentences for habitual violent offenders.

“I do not out of disagreement with the committee’s intent, but out of concern that expanding mandatory sentencing risks going back to number one,” Ford said. The Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association supports the bill. A lobbyist for the group says the bill would help address repeat offenders by sending a clear signal they face spending two full decades in prison.

The bill has cleared a House subcommittee.