Minnesota DOC Says Prison Crisis Looms

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota’s prisons are out of space and the Department of Corrections will run out of money for renting beds from other entities unless the legislature steps in soon, officials said recently.

A stalemate at the state Capitol last session meant a request for $2.85 million to rent beds in county jails and private facilities were not approved. The money available for that runs out in March or April, and by that time, the state will need 250 to 300 beds.

In recent years, the prison population has been surging upward – 45 percent since 1999.

From July 2003 to July 2004 alone, the state gained 765 more prisoners. Although that brings the prison population to 8,333, it's still one of the smallest numbers of prisoners in the country. But recent changes in state law that put more people in prison and for longer sentences mean double bunking is no longer enough.

Moreover, if the legislature toughens sex offender laws in the coming session, that will worsen the crisis. There are a few options to get the state through the immediate crunch, such as renting more beds from local jails and workhouses or a private facility, but beyond that, it will take expanding the state's prisons or building new ones.

Corrections officials also were put on the defense by a federal report on state prison expenditures. The Bureau of Justice Statistics special report, released in June, shows Minnesota at the top of several per-inmate expenditure lists in 2001, the last numbers available.

For instance, the state spent $36,836 per inmate that year, compared with a national average of $22,650. Medical care was $3,908, compared with a national average of $2,625; food was $1,665 in Minnesota compared with $955 nationally; and utilities were $1,217, compared with a national average of $795.

DOC officials argue that because Minnesota has one of the smallest U.S. prison populations, with facilities spread sparsely throughout the state, it can't take advantage of economies of scale that other states can. They say Minnesota taxpayers still shell out some of the lowest amounts in the country for corrections – $48, compared with a national average of $100.