Minnesota DOC’s “Honor Unit” Raises Questions of Equity and Transparency
In June 2025, the Minnesota Department of Corrections launched an Earned Incentive-Based Housing Program — dubbed the “Honor Unit” — at MCF-Stillwater. While the program promises single cells, couches, enhanced canteen options, and more programming, incarcerated voices argue it’s a hollow fix. With unsafe lead levels in Stillwater’s water, a closure planned by 2029, and inequities in who is eligible, critics say the program prioritizes optics and job security over real rehabilitation.
In June 2025, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) announced the rollout of an Earned Incentive-Based Housing Program, referred to by some as the “Honor Unit,” at MCF-Stillwater. The program promises perks for qualifying incarcerated individuals (IPs): single-occupancy cells, couches, enhanced canteen options, more access to programming, and an overall improved quality of life inside prison.
On paper, it sounds promising. In reality, many of us believe it’s too good to be true. Let’s be clear: MCF-Stillwater is a facility plagued by legitimate and documented health and safety issues. Chief among them is unsafe levels of lead in the water.
State lawmakers have already made plans to close the facility by 2029 due to the exorbitant cost of upkeep and its deteriorating, century-old infrastructure. So why is the DOC investing in an “honor unit” here?
A closer look raises troubling questions. Is this initiative truly about rehabilitation, or is it about optics and union job security? With many corrections officers living near Stillwater, could the effort to keep the facility open be driven more by personal investments than public safety?
Health risks ignored
The Minnesota Department of Health made it clear in 2025 that there is no safe level of lead in the human body. Yet incarcerated individuals at Stillwater are being asked to overlook that fact for the promise of upgraded living conditions. This is not rehabilitation. It’s a sleight of hand.
Who gets deemed “honorable?’
The DOC has sent out applications for the program to some, but not all. Notably, some of us who have been discipline-free for years, who have taken accountability and actively worked toward positive change, weren’t even given the chance to apply.
The application includes questions such as:
- What accomplishments are you proudest of since incarceration?
- What skills or leadership experience can you contribute?
- What do you hope to learn and gain from participating?
Applicants must also list two DOC staff members willing to vouch for them.
Yet there are reports of individuals who’ve committed serious and deeply harmful offenses, like child abuse or even child homicide, being offered the chance to participate. Meanwhile, others with decades of incarceration and a track record of personal growth are overlooked due to arbitrary scoring systems like “MNSafe,” which ranks a person’s perceived risk based on outdated metrics.
A misguided system of rewards
How does this align with public safety or justice? What message does it send to survivors and victims’ families that individuals convicted of the most heinous crimes may now enjoy a single cell with a couch and more programming, while others, who’ve demonstrated long-term commitment to change, remain locked down 22 hours a day?
This isn’t about punishment versus forgiveness. It’s about equity, transparency, and moral clarity.
Real solutions
If this program is truly about rehabilitation, here are real solutions:
- Accelerate MRRA releases for eligible individuals — those who’ve served decades, remained discipline-free, and completed programming.
- Include all eligible IPs in the Honor Unit selection process, based on behavior and growth, not biased algorithms or arbitrary DOC discretion.
- Use unused facilities like the privately owned Appleton Prison to balance staffing needs and reduce overcrowding, instead of keeping decaying prisons open for job preservation.
- Ensure transparency and fairness in how DOC staff endorsements are used, especially when it comes to individuals who’ve committed the most serious offenses.
A system under pressure
This past July, an incarcerated person at MCF Rush City attempted to escape by running for the razor wire fence, an act of desperation in a facility increasingly overwhelmed, under-resourced, and locked down. It’s no wonder. This prison has become overcrowded, understaffed and volatile.
And now, with the possibility of transferring individuals with serious offenses to “honor units” while others remain trapped in a failing facility, morale is at an all-time low.
Commissioner Schnell, Governor Walz: Is this really the system we want to build? Is this what reform looks like?
Because from the inside, it doesn’t look like healing. It looks like harm wearing a new badge.
This commentary was submitted by an incarcerated individual at MCF Rush City, who has asked to remain anonymous.