Star Tribune
Stillwater prison protest ‘resolved’ after inmates refused to return to cells
The Stillwater state prison will remain on lockdown until at least Tuesday after about 100 inmates refused to return to their cells for about seven hours on Sunday.
Officials from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) said the situation has been “resolved without incident” and no one was hurt. The Bayport facility was placed on lockdown at around 8 a.m. Sunday as prisoners protested problems stemming from staff shortages.
DOC spokesman Andy Skoogman said the situation was “calm, peaceful and stable” throughout the day. The facility remained on lockdown status after nearly all prisoners returned to their cells around 3 p.m. Sunday.
Reports were mixed regarding what triggered the protest within the prison.
Skoogman said some of the incarcerated men in the unit were dissatisfied because cell release schedules were modified over the Labor Day holiday weekend, meaning prisoners had less time than usual for showers, phone use and recreation.
The DOC said schedules had to be modified due to “staffing challenges.”
On Sunday morning, about 225 men from one housing unit were released from their cells to shower, call their relatives and socialize, but about 100 refused to return to their cells around 8 a.m. Skoogman said DOC staff were quickly removed from the common areas of the housing unit while two correctional officers stayed in the unit’s secure control area. The two officers in the secure control area were in constant communication with facility command personnel during the incident, he said.
The protesting prisoners were calm, talking with each other and playing cards, Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said during a news conference Sunday afternoon. “There was never any type of violence throughout the incident,” Schnell said.
Prison Chaplain Scott Westphal reiterated that no one was hurt and that the matter with inmates and correctional officers was handled in a “very peaceable, very dignified [way]. I’m very grateful.” He declined further comment.
A tactical team was standing by, Schnell said. DOC crisis negotiators talked with the inmates, and all but two returned to their cells, Schnell said. The two who refused to return were taken to restrictive housing and will face discipline.
Schnell blamed inmates communicating with their families and activists for making too much of the situation.
“This is not the first time we’ve had people refuse to go back to their cells,” he said.
A small group of family and friends of inmates gathered outside the facility on Sunday, including Marvina Haynes, whose brother Marvin Haynes is incarcerated there for a 2005 murder conviction. Her brother told her that inmates have gone two days without showers and, when let out of their cells this morning, they refused to go back in. Phones were shut down just after 8 a.m., family members said, just as the lockdown began.
“The inmates don’t want to hurt or harm anyone, they just want clean water, showers and ice,” Haynes said.
She and other family members noted the facility is not air-conditioned, and said their family members have had limited access to water, showers and ice this weekend. Temperatures outside the prison hovered above 90 degrees.
Heat has always been a problem for the prison, Schnell said.
Cathy Stroud-Caldwell, whose son Lincoln is in prison for a 2008 murder conviction, said she’s been told water in the cells is rusty and prisoners have been straining it using their socks. “These are human beings,” she said.
Schnell said the water in the prison is safe to drink and was recently tested.
The head of the union representing staff and corrections officers at Stillwater, AFSCME Council 5, said in a statement that Sunday’s incident shows the consequences of understaffing.
The lack of staffing means prisoners’ movements are restricted, “leading to upset offenders” who have little or no access to programming and recreational time, said AFSCME Council 5 interim executive director Bart Andersen, in a statement.
The union claims correctional facilities “cannot have transformational offender programming without sufficient facility security.”
“Without more staffing in our correctional facilities … we will continue down this unacceptable road of staff assaults, offenders controlling sections of our prisons and more,” Andersen said.
Schnell said there are about 50 staff vacancies at Stillwater, and more than 300 across the entire DOC, or about 14% of all positions.
Built in 1914, the Stillwater state prison is the state’s largest close-security institution for men, according to its website. The prison houses about 1,500 inmates.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings