MN DOC Can’t Bag a Sheet of Paper — But It Might Be Deeper Than That
For over a year, inmates across the Minnesota Department of Corrections have been unable to purchase plain white typing paper — a basic supply critical for legal filings, education, and religious study. Andrew Krosch breaks down why this isn’t just a supply chain failure, but a systemic denial of rights with serious consequences.
How hard would you think it is to put some plain white paper, standard 8.5 x 11 in a plastic bag? Brain surgery hard? Rocket science hard? Not all that hard if you put a little effort in?
We all learned about supply chains recently. Maybe that’s the problem.
And what’s the problem, again? Typing paper for all of the Minnesota DOC inmates who need it for often time sensitive legal work and educational projects — academic and religious — with deadlines. This has been going on since last year.
The ‘typing paper’ in this instance is the plain white paper in reams of 500, the same paper used in the printers in the canteen processing and distribution center.
For many years the said reams can be found stacked next to the foreman’s floor desk — not technically within arm’s reach, the stack is two to four steps away from where they spend the majority of their eight hour shift — as well as next to their main office next to the inmate and employee bathrooms. Said paper fits perfectly into the 12×18 bags that are available from any of the twelve bagging stations the foreman’s desk oversees. As is cheap labor capable, for the most part, of putting item A (such as paper) into plastic bag B (above). Same plastic bag used for packaging when ‘typing paper’ is ‘in stock’, i. e. someone performed above assembly process, usually done in the “warehouse” work area. While said paper comes in reams of 500 and is sold in quantities of 100 the math ain’t that hard, even for an inmate. We can count in hundreds.
So while once again our receipts might say “product is currently out of stock” I will continue to stand by the above facts, conclusions I submit are easily verifiable, especially since each week, when I and thousands of other inmates in the MN-DOC order canteen we get a receipt printed on plain white 8.5 X 11 paper, the smaller orders packed in the aforementioned standard 12×18 bag.
So why is it that inmates across the MN-DOC have been without any means of getting typing paper, a necessity for those in the process of filing legal work, others pursuing educational goals such as academic and religious degrees.
Our receipts should say, “Sorry we can’t be bothered with the simple process of bagging up paper to sell to you.”
Is this the system’s failure to sell me and anyone else in the entire MN-DOC a few sheets of paper because of a particular management acumen?
Or is it intentional?
It would surely cut back on anyone filing briefs and claims against the MN-DOC and company. Hmmm.
Does it matter? The result is the same.
I’m lucky. I have no legal work that’s due in court. No briefs to file while my literal freedom is on the line. What do the rest of us do? More time I guess….
Andrew Krosch (#206912) is incarcerated at MCF-Oak Park Heights. He can be contacted via TextBehind or JPay.