![]() Schnell also the DOC is actively working to recruit more correctional officers and staff, and there are active union contract negotiations that will likely lead to increased compensation. Schnell also says the 120-year-old facility is not climate controlled, and its windows "have many challenges." He says the DOC is doing studies to figure out how to update the facility, and he expects that a bonding request will eventually be submitted to the Minnesota Legislature. Staffing is both a short- and long-term concern, with the corrections officers union saying "chronic understaffing leads to upset offenders due to the need to restrict. The DOC says the prison is short 50 officers. "The more staff we have, the more we can open up programming, which is exactly what the concerns of incarcerated people are," Schnell said. The DOC says overall, free time has been cut down by more than half for inmates amid the current staffing issues. Schnell added that inmates are usually given several hours a day during the weekend for recreation, but the holiday-related staff shortage dropped that amount of time to just a single hour. ![]() Skoogman blamed the unrest in part on inmates' frustration with the move to change cell release schedules during Labor Day weekend, which limited the inmates' access to phones, recreation and showers - which Skoogman says is due to "staffing challenges." He also refuted the claim that inmates were lacking access to clean water. He says those inmates were brought to a segregated unit, and will go through a disciplinary process. Schnell says the situation ended at about 3 p.m., when only two inmates were left refusing to go back to their cells. He says the majority of inmates in that unit, which is between 220-250 men, had returned to their cells when originally ordered. There was never any type of violence throughout the incident at all," Schnell said. "The majority of the time the incarcerated men who did not return to their cells were at tables that are in the commons area playing cards, talking with one another. RELATED: DOC reports "troubling trend" of drug use at Moose Lake prison, including 5 ER visits after useĭOC Commissioner Paul Schnell clarified in a press conference late Sunday afternoon that deployment of the negotiation team is standard protocol, and the SORT team was called in "out of abundance of caution," and they never entered the unit. The DOC reports that all staff had been removed from the common areas of the unit that had been taken over, and two correctional officers remained in the unit's secure control area, staying "in constant communication with facility command personnel during the incident."ĭOC spokesperson Andy Skoogman says no one was hurt, and "the situation was calm, peaceful and stable throughout the day." Earlier Sunday, Skoogman said members of the Crisis Negotiation Team were activated and, "out of an abundance of caution," they had also activated the DOC's Special Operations Response Team (SORT). UPDATE: As staffing problems, extreme heat cause big problems at Stillwater Prison, former corrections officer says "nothing has changed"Įxtra police, firefighters, and other emergency teams rushed to the prison after the DOC put it on emergency lockdown at about 8 a.m. The Minnesota Department of Corrections says an emergency situation at Minnesota Correctional Facility - Stillwater has been resolved after roughly 100 inmates in one living unit refused to return to their cells Sunday morning, but inmates may remain on lockdown through Tuesday. Stillwater Prison remains on lockdown after 100-plus inmates refused to return to their cells for ho 01:52
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