Sheldon, Iowa — If you were on Highway 18 at the right time, you may have recently seen a house coming down the road. That, in and of itself is not that unusual. But the distance this house had to travel is a little more unusual.
The new house was built by inmates through Iowa Prison Industries in Newton. Newton is roughly 25 miles east of the north side of Des Moines, and is roughly four hours from Sheldon at normal highway speed.
Jerry Manning, with Iowa Prison Industries, tells us about it.
He tells us what the requirements are for incarcerated individuals to work on homes like that.
The destination for the house that recently came through Sheldon on Highway 18 is actually comparatively nearby, and in our coverage area.
The Rock Valley home joins four built in that area in 2023 and another built last year.
Manning says the exclusive customer for the prison-built houses is Homes For Iowa. He says the program is very helpful for the inmates.
A lot of people assume prisoners only make license plates. And, that is one of the things they do in Iowa, but they do other things too besides build houses and make license plates, says Manning.
Manning encourages people looking for a house to be placed on a lot to consider the prisoner-built homes through Homes For Iowa. Go to homesforia.com for more information.