Iowa and their crappy court system

Talking with my mom on the phone today (as I do every day) she was explaining to me the findings of a mental evaluation that was done on my nephew.  He turned 22 last month.  Without going into too much detail (because typing it all up just depresses me to see it all in words) my nephew is in prison.  Not for a violent crime but for child endangerment/neglect of his twin sons who were 9 months old. 

So, this weekend my mother finally learns some of the information about the mental eval that was done this summer when my nephew was sentenced.  He would not reveal to her the details at the time and she had to learn about it from his brother (my other nephew). 

It turns out that the eval being done at the age of 21 reflects that my nephew has the mental capacity of a 13 year old.  Due to a divorce of his parents and the stress / trauma followed in his life he stopped maturing at age 12 or 13.  I can believe this.  It seems accurate from what I have seen or know of my nephew.  It also stirred up anger on my part that his parents did not help him and let him muddle through these years without giving him the love and encouragement to grow and develop but that's a whole other story.

My issue with all of this is; if the court system had access to this mental eval why on Earth did they put this young man in the prison system?  Is it helpful to a mentally 13 year old physically 21 year old man to be amongst hard criminals?  Will this time in jail help him to grow beyond this mental capacity and become the man he should be?

There is no doubt that a terrible crime was committed and that his twin sons suffered terribly.  However, how much did he know and understand about the feeding of his children?  Would you place your 13 year old who committed a crime in a prison with grown men who have committed murder and rape?  The state of Iowa apparently does.

I don't know what will become of my nephew when he does get out of jail.  It is possible that he will be there for a few more years.  What went into prison almost a year ago surely is not what will come out.  I'm a little afraid to see what will come out.