Northern Minnesota is under a new alert until Friday at 7 p.m.

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Planning to carry out the closure of the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwater four years from now has begun, with the top state prisons official describing it as an unprecedented undertaking.

Last month, Gov. Tim Walz announced the closure of MCF-Stillwater, one of the state’s largest and oldest prisons. The plan is to close the prison, which is in the city of Bayport, by 2029.

Walz and lawmakers involved in the decision said the prison is outdated, unsafe and expensive to maintain. The closure order was part of a bill approved in May and signed into law so it is not affected by the current budget standoff.

. The first will reduce operations at the prison and then lead from a stepdown to full closure.

In a memo sent Thursday to “friends and family of incarcerated persons,” Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said his agency has created teams to plan future programming at the prison, assess impacts to staff, determine how to transfer the prison's nearly 1,200 inmates to other facilities and manage communications and engagement around the closure.

His memo says the teams will focus on minimizing disruption for the people incarcerated and prison staff as well as maintaining essential services. They'll also map out milestones that will need to be met.

Schnell notes that the closure is a complex process “unlike anything the DOC has undertaken before.”

“This will be a complex process with many moving parts,” he adds while requesting patience “as we navigate this enormous change.”

Under the planning framework, the corrections agency will start the final transition to fully emptying Stillwater in July 2027. Walz has said the plan is to transfer inmates to other prisons with capacity and that no one would be released prematurely from custody.

About half of the prison’s population is in for homicide. More than 60 percent of incarcerated people there were committed from the seven-county metro area.

Advocates for the incarcerated say they would like 

a group of currently and formerly incarcerated people at the prison

 to help with transition planning to ensure safety.

Peter Cox

Author

The Minnesota Department of Corrections has formed teams to work on staffing impacts and plans for transfer for incarcerated people as it looks ahead to the 2029 closure of the Stillwater prison.

Kerem Yücel | MPR News

In recorded calls, reports of overcrowding and lack of food at ICE detention centers

Minneapolis leaders call for review of police role in federal search on Lake Street

Minneapolis will pay $900,000 to settle suit involving a teen sexually assaulted by an officer in 2017

Minneapolis man charged with obstructing police at Lake Street protest

Crime, Law and Justice

Corrections officials begin setting milestones, plans for closing Stillwater prison

The Minnesota Department of Corrections puts together groups to work on staffing impacts, transfer for incarcerated people and future programming at the prison.

Corrections officials begin setting milestones, plans for closing Stillwater prison

Go Deeper.

Like this?

Quick Read