Prison Inmates' Visitation Rights, Activities Suspended By State Government Shutdown

The impacts of the government shutdown are penetrating state prison walls.

While the Department of Corrections (DOC) staff was largely spared by Ramsey County Judge Kathleen Gearin’s ruling Wednesday that corrections officers are critical parts of public safety, offender visitation rights—along with some recreational activities—have been suspended.

The Shutdown’s Impact On Prison Staff

Judge Gearin authorized the DOC to keep 85 percent of its workforce on the job during the government shutdown, John Schadl, a DOC spokesperson said. More than 74 percent of the people who work for the DOC have jobs that involve direct contact with offenders who are either incarcerated in a state prison or on supervised release in communities across Minnesota.

Most of the staff members who were let go because of the government shutdown provide key support services to the “front-line staff” that are in daily contact with offenders, Schadl said. Those layoffs include maintenance, office administration, finance and education staff, as well as, a “few correctional officers.”

But “most correctional officers are on the job,” he reiterated.

At Stillwater prison, 72 of the correctional facility’s 520 staff members were laid off during the shutdown, Schadl said. Of the 354 staff members at the Oak Park Heights prison, 64 were furloughed. Statewide, 125 of the 1,970 prison staff members were laid off.

For a point of reference, at Stillwater prison five correctional officers staff a prison block of 280 inmates.

“You don’t keep the facility safe with numbers,” Schadl said. “It’s done with sound practices,” which includes keeping the inmates occupied.

The Shutdown’s Impact On Inmates

Each facility has pared down services to inmates, but the DOC has not eliminated them, Schadl said. Education and work programs are in place to make sure there isn’t a lot of idle time in prisons.

“Keeping idle time for the incarcerated to a minimum is important because when there is idle time, that is what can create dangerous situations,” he said.

The inmates’ visitation rights have been suspended, Schadl said. “Offender visitations are a big deal” and the DOC will review this as the shutdown progresses, he said.

Indoor recreations—such as basketball and organized recreation—has also been suspended, but inmates are still allowed recreation time in the main outdoor courtyard, he said. Education, chemical dependency programs and prison jobs will continue.

Offenders serve two-thirds of their sentences behind bars and one-third of the sentence—which includes more than 20,000 offenders—under community supervision, he explained. Those offenders will remain under community supervision during the shutdown.

“This reflects what the citizens of Minnesota obviously consider to be one of the most important functions government provides—public safety,” said DOC Commissioner Tom Roy. “Under our shutdown plan, every offender who is incarcerated in our facilities will continue to be incarcerated, every offender the DOC had under supervision in our communities, will remain under supervision. We are not compromising public safety at all.”