A little more than two-years after the Iowa Board of Corrections approved the appointment of Sheryl Dahm as Warden of the Clarinda Correctional Facility, the Board today (Friday), appointed her Warden of the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women, in Mitchellville. Dahm succeeds Patti Wachtendorf, who was appointed today (Friday) as the first female warden of Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The Iowa State Penitentiary has had a man in charge since it opened 178 years ago.

The ICIW is a medium/minimum security prison that houses offenders in dorm-like living units and celled housing. The correctional facility provides educational and vocational services to offenders,  and emphasizes responsibility and accountability in preparing women offenders for successful Re-Entry to the community.

Dahm has extensive administrative corrections experience with proven leadership in the management, supervision and treatment of adult offenders. She has more than two decades experience counseling prison inmates with substance abuse and mental health issues, and became Warden at the Clarinda facility in Nov., 2015.  The Clarinda facility houses around 800 offenders.

Deputy Warden Stephen Weis is appointed acting warden of the Clarinda Correctional Facility in the interim, until a full-time person is approved for the post.