Rush City prison inmate Keith Hapana Crow writes about deteriorating conditions following the closure of Stillwater prison, including restricted recreation, mental health neglect and practices he argues violate restorative justice principles.
Minnesota Department of Corrections
Posted inOpinion
What needs fixing in Minnesota’s prison system
Minnesota Department of Corrections problems at Rush City Correctional Facility raise serious concerns about staff misconduct, prison wages, communication access and humane treatment inside Minnesota prisons.
Posted inLocal & State
MN Corrections calls Homeland Security claims ‘categorically false, unsupported by facts, deeply irresponsible’
Minnesota Department of Corrections officials say DHS claims about ICE detainers misrepresent state prison custody and department records.
Posted inOpinion
The ongoing abuse of strip searches in Minnesota prisons
Forced strip searches in Minnesota prisons continue despite zero tolerance claims. Advocates and survivors say the degrading practice must end and call for body scanners and accountability.
Posted inOpinion
In MN prisons, ‘chaos and ignorance is king’
The Minnesota Department of Corrections is a racket that prioritizes profits over rehabilitation, with the system being plagued by violence, overcrowding, and corruption, and whistleblowers revealing the extent of the problems.
Posted inLocal & State
Retaliation alleged for inmate’s criticism
Inmate Willie Crump was sent back to prison after his attorney, Michael McLaughlin, condemned the hearing that led to Crump’s re-incarceration as prejudiced and unconstitutional, following his outspoken criticism of the living conditions at Clifton House and Faribault Prison.
Posted inLocal & State
Halfway houses face daunting challenges
Inmates at the 180 Degrees 236 Clifton halfway house in Minneapolis are complaining about the unsafe, unsanitary, and unjust conditions, including poor living conditions, inadequate food, and inadequate sanitation facilities.
Posted inLocal & State
A Call for Reform at Hennepin County Jail
Hennepin County Jail is in crisis due to overcrowding, understaffing, and inadequate medical care, resulting in seven deaths in the past two years and a lack of access to medical care for inmates awaiting trial.
Posted inOpinion
Do Minnesotans condone the enslavement of human beings?Â
Minnesota’s Constitution declares slavery and involuntary servitude legal as a punishment for a crime, and the state’s prisons are a violent, dehumanizing, and coercive slave labor.
Posted inOpinion
Is the Dept. of Corrections knowingly inflicting pain upon prisoners?
Minnesota prisoners denied medication: Cruel and unusual punishment?
Posted inOpinion
Rush City prison in shambles
We should all want people coming out of prisons to be better off, not worse off than when they went in.
Posted inNews
Activists push for work release to reconnect the incarcerated with society
Prison abolitionists, advocacy organizations, and some formerly incarcerated members are urging the MnDoC to allow work release for low-risk offenders.
Posted inLocal & State
Chauvin’s sentencing not surprising, but there were unexpected, troubling moments
Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Derek Chauvin to 270 months in prison for the murder of George Floyd, citing aggravating factors of abuse of position of trust and infliction of particular cruelty.
Posted inOpinion
The DOC’s mission on paper is something else entirely in practice
A monthly column in which various contributors from both sides of prison walls explore common ground for effecting change. Just days after the U.S. Senate voted on a criminal justice reform bill that that is giving a much-needed push to de-incarcerate this nation’s prisons and jails, I find myself holding out hope on what it […]