"Does a 15-year prison sentence really last for 15 years?"

(decorahnews.com posted a story--http://www.decorahnews.com/archived-stories/2017/01/15503.html--on January 15th about the arrest by Decorah Police of Mark Schroeder of Postville on a charge that he took items off the shelf at Walmart and tried to return them for a money credit, using an old receipt.  That prompted this e-mail from Mike: "Is this the same Mark Shroeder who was formerly from Burr Oak, when he was arrested on the Voltmer and Calmar Golf burglaries, then was sent to prison for (I thought) 15 years?)

Mr. Answer Person says: "Wow!  It took us a lot longer to get an answer for you than we expected.  Here are the facts:

On July 29th of 2013, Mark Schroeder was sentenced to 15 years in prison in connection with the burglaries you mention.  Like the prisons in many other states, Iowa's prisons are very overcrowded.  So on the day someone goes to prison, their sentence is typically reduced by half.  Then credit for time served while awaiting trial is added and then prisoners have an opportunity to earn reductions in their sentences by good behavior in prison.  That is what happened in this case.

So, yes, it was the same Mark Schroeder 41 months later who was picked up by Decorah Police in January.  On January 30th, he entered a guilty plea to two counts of 5th degree theft and was ordered to pay a $200 fine plus court costs and a surcharge.  He was allowed to pay $50/month until that fine is paid off.