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Debate over MN sex offender program
Opponents of the program say people involuntarily committed don’t have a clear path to release.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Sex Offender Program in Moose Lake and St. Peter currently has 734 people who were involuntarily committed for an indeterminate period after a judge determined they are a “sexually psychopathic personality” or a “sexually dangerous person.”
The State Department of Human Services refers to them as “clients” because they are not inmates and the facility is not a prison. The process for committing someone there generally begins in civil court at the end of the person’s prison sentence.
As the program turns 30 years old, a small group of protesters, most of whom have a loved one inside, is calling for the state to spend the $100 million per year devoted to the program in other ways.
“The detainees there have served their time for any crimes committed, and any treatment that is being done there could be done on the outside,” said Brenda Camacho from New Ulm.
“I myself am a victim of someone who is held at MSOP. So I do understand both sides of it, however, these people have served their prison sentence. This is just additional time on top of that. They have done their time. They should be able to reintegrate,” said Tiffany Minkel from Hutchinson.
The program was created to commit sex offenders deemed most likely to re-offend and attempt to rehabilitate them.
But for the first two decades of its existence, there seemed to be no pathway for release. By 2013, only one man — who had 30 victims — was released to a halfway house.
After the clients sued, dozens began being conditionally released and 25 have been fully released. A federal judge initially ruled in their favor but an appeals court determined the program is constitutional.
At their press conference today — opponents demonstrated that nearly four times as many clients have died while committed than have been fully released.
They argue those committed would not re-offend if released. However, supporters of the program fear that’s overly optimistic.
One high-profile client is Mark Steven Wallace — who has long been the only suspect in the disappearance of Saint Paul teen Hang Lee. While he’s never been charged in that case, a judge heard evidence from that — and several other kidnapping and rape incidents where Wallace was convicted — before the judge ruled Wallace is a “sexually dangerous person” and a “sexually psychopathic personality.”
Danny Heinrich, the man who admits kidnapping and killing Jacob Wetterling, will be released from federal prison on a child pornography charge in 8 years. But on the day of his plea deal, U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said Heinrich would likely be committed in MSOP and not actually be freed.
But as the program enters a 4th decade, there are those who argue it is not preventing sexual violence in Minnesota.
“Only a court has the authority to commit someone to MSOP or to discharge them. MSOP provides the therapeutic guidance and tools clients need to break ingrained patterns of behavior and make meaningful changes in their lives. Public safety is at the heart of everything we do,” said MSOP Executive Director Nancy Johnston.
Jeremy Jourdain was 17 when he was last seen on Halloween 2016.
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for Jeremy Jourdain, who was last seen on Halloween in 2016, continues now eight years later.
Jourdain was last seen at a family member’s house in Bemidji, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. He left the residence near the 500 block of Wood Avenue after midnight and while people followed him, no one was able to find him.
Jourdain was 17 at the time.
Officials said he was wearing a blue and grey sweatshirt, and blue jeans when last seen. He is Native American and is described as 6 foot 5 and 175 pounds.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, you can contact the Bemidji Police Department at (218) 333-9111. Tips can also be sent to 1-833-560-2065, or you can email ojs_mmu@bia.gov.
The organizations say many Asian Americans are planning to vote despite lack of candidate outreach.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Most people have been contacted in some way shape or form by a campaign in the last few weeks. And if the polls are right and the race for president is a dead heat, every vote will matter.
That’s why this is a head scratcher:
According to a September 2024 voter survey by Asian American Pacific Islander Data, 27% of Asian-American voters said they hadn’t been contacted by either political party trying to get their vote. Last spring, earlier in the voting season, it was even more – 42%.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group nationwide.
Their voter participation levels are growing too, with 60% of eligible Asian-American voters turning out in 2020. And AAPI Data reports as many as 90% of Asian Americans they surveyed said they plan to vote this cycle.
“Candidates are not reaching out to Asian Americans, which is a huge mistake,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive and networking director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders.
She says even though there are more than 200,000 eligible Asian voters in Minnesota, the Asian vote is under-appreciated.
“Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have been reaching out in huge numbers,” Xiong said. “They’re sending general mailers to everyone but … they need it in their native language.”
That’s why CAAL is partnering with two more organizations to keep voter turnout high and reach anyone candidates or advocates missed.
Xor Xiong is from Asian American Organizing Project, which focuses on engaging metro-area teens and young adults.
“Many of our communities are still facing barriers to go to vote,” he said. “There’s been more times than I like to admit in terms of when I was having a conversation over the phones of voters being surprised that they can take time off to go and vote, or they can bring the kids to the polling locations, or they can even bring someone to translate for them.”
“In Ramsey County, because of the large Hmong American population there, the polls in Ramsey County are federally required to provide interpreters and translated materials,” ThaoMee added.
Their nonpartisan campaign, Get Out the Vote for Asian Minnesotans, aims to get people registered and well-informed.
“Throughout Covid, there was a lot of anti-hate around the AAPI community and we are still feeling the impact of that to this day,” said Amanda Xiong, a community organizer with a group known as CAPI USA. “Even if folks are afraid to go to the polls, due to that, we try our best to then educate them around absentee ballots, voting early.”
“And so yes, there is a huge increase in terms of voter turnout, but then why is it still 70% feel as though they don’t belong?”
In 2021, the FBI reported a 168% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes.
In Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, the groups knocked on at least 700 doors in one session alone while keeping safety top of mind.
“We make sure that there’s a car following all the door knockers,” ThaoMee said. “We put everyone on text chain … and we are putting a lot of precautionary measures in place for the day of voting.”
After the election, the CAAL plans to conduct surveys and send the results to county election officials. They’ve done this before and say it led to policy changes this year at the legislature including measures to ensure people have easier access to interpreters.
Minnesota groups work to encourage Latino voters to get to the polls and dispel misinformation.
MINNESOTA, USA — While the secretary of state publishes polling information in the Spanish Language, experts say there are still challenges when it comes to activating Latino voters. Minnesota groups have been hard at work getting voting information out and challenging misinformation.
Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action (COPAL) says it is still working to inspire Latino voters to the polls days before the election.
Eva Peña is one of the volunteers who spent part of Wednesday at their headquarters on Lake Street, calling Latino voters and making sure questions are answered in either English or Spanish.
“I’ve been able to help people figure out if they’re registered or not to vote,” smiled Peña. “And that part has felt super fulfilling for me.”
About 6% of Minnesota’s population is Latino and COPAL’s organizing director Ryan Perez says language isn’t the only barrier. Fear is a hurdle, too.
“There’s some common myths that folks are still facing,” said Perez. “They think, is it unsafe for me to vote? If I vote, will that put my relative in jeopardy?”
Perez says a myth has spread on social media that if you exercise your right to vote as a citizen, it could put undocumented loved ones at risk of deportation.
The secretary of state’s office reaffirmed Wednesday that all eligible Minnesotans should vote without fear of repercussions.
“As much as we think social media seems deregulated and there’s a lot of false information for English speakers, it’s even more so for non-English speakers,” said Perez.
Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera is the Executive director of Common Cause Minnesota. Her organization runs an election protection program and has volunteers flagging misinformation on social media as part of its efforts.
“If I’m your cousin, or I’m the small business owner where you frequent with your family, and you see me reposting something, you’re gonna be more likely than not to believe that because it’s coming from me, right?” she pointed out.
Belladonna-Carrera says there’s an additional challenge in reaching voters with accurate information in rural areas as well.
“It’s that isolation,” Belladonna-Carrera said. “It’s not just geographic isolation, it’s linguistic isolation.”
But volunteers say it’s not just about showing up, but showing leaders that they need the Latino vote.
“They’ll be thinking about, well, how can I make the how can I make life better for our Latino community?” said Peña.
For more resources in Spanish on how to vote, go to the Secretary of State’s website.
