Gov. Branstad today (Wednesday) denied ten applications for commutation submitted by persons in the state’s prison system. Among the applications were those from 64-year old Darrell Bizzett, who committed his crime on September 1st, 1970, in western Iowa’s Woodbury County. He is currently serving a life sentence for Murder – 1st degree, and, 58-year old Kevin Johnson, who committed his crime on June 29th, 1980, in Pottawattamie County. He is currently serving a life sentence for Murder – 1st degree.

Branstad has commuted the life prison terms of only two inmates during his total of 18 years in office. Commutation is rare in Iowa, with governors reducing the legal penalty for only 39 people — 35 men and four women — in the last 44 years. Most of the commutations cut mandatory life sentences to fixed-length terms that can be reduced for good behavior. Lifers whose terms have been commuted since 1969 spent a median 22 years in prison and had a median age of 56 when paroled, according to information provided by the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Of the 39 prisoners who were freed by, four went back to prison for new criminal charges.