Star Tribune
Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center used unwarranted seclusion amid staffing shortage
The Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) has resorted to the unwarranted seclusion of minors and the use of restrictive disciplinary techniques to compensate for staff shortages, according to a state inspection report released last week.
The annual audit found a series of rights violations affecting troubled teens housed in the downtown Minneapolis facility as they await trial or placement in a secure residential treatment center, including frequent isolation and improper wellness checks.
A widespread review of video footage, personnel reports and inspector observations discovered that the JDC locked children in their rooms for long stretches, canceling recreation time and outreach programming, due to staffing shortages rather than behavioral issues. Tt\he inspection revealed multiple occasions when teens were confined without cause, even when several correctional officers were sitting in a nearby office.
If minors filed a formal grievance about that treatment, their complaints often went unanswered. One in four were not responded to within the required 5-day window — a repeated rule violation by the JDC that has only worsened since their previous inspection last fall.
The report confirms longstanding allegations by attorneys and their young clients, who have testified in court hearings about how bleak conditions inside the detention facility negatively impacted their mental and physical health. Some reported languishing in their cells for up to 16 hours a day, barring them from parental visitation or phone calls.
“The JDC is not a rehabilitative or therapeutic environment, so you already have kids under an enormous amount of stress,” said public defender Tracy Reid. ““They’re not getting appropriate psychological care that a person would need to endure those conditions. So we’re seeing increased violence by the children.”
For months, Reid has sought records outlining how often youth were being locked in their cells and for what length of time. Eventually, she obtained a court order, which acknowledges that the JDC does not specifically track that information. But over a 7-week period, the document noted, there were only five days where programming wasn’t modified for the entire building.
“If the staffing shortage is this bad, they need to treat it as an emergency to fix it,” Reid said, accusing the facility of confining children for “egregiously long periods of time” simply for the convenience of the adults tasked with their care.
A St. Cloud-area technical and community college will get a student-support center, thanks to a $2 million challenge donation.
The St. Cloud Technical & Community College Foundation launched the campaign Wednesday and announced the J.A. Wedum Center for Student Success.
Along with the center, to be housed in an existing building, the college has a “comprehensive plan for student success to enhance first-generation retention and completion,” it said in a news release. It states “student accountability, intensive advising, and connected services increase student retention rates” for those first-generation students.
The college, founded in 1948, serves 2,800 first-generation students, which his more than half its population, the release said. “With the college serving such a large segment of first-generation students, their success is critical to the future of central Minnesota,” it said. The college has 75 program options that align with the type of jobs available in central and greater Minnesota.
An employee who was riding the trailer when Xander was run over said he felt a bump and jumped off, where he found the boy lying on the ground with severe head trauma. He told investigators the part of the trailer where actors stood could be slippery, and said he previously suggested treads and lighting to improve safety.
In Minnesota, “agritourism” has little oversight, with entrepreneurs often having to establish their own safety measures as they welcome families to their properties. State law grants “agritourism” businesses immunity from liability due to the inherent risks present in environments with farm animals and machinery. Exceptions to the law include negligence or willful or wanton disregard for safety, knowledge of dangerous conditions on the land and intentional injuries.
Xander was an eighth-grader at Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School, where he participated in band, choir, robotics and soccer, according to his obituary, which states he was “kind, very polite, unique, creative, investigative, and saw the good in everyone.”
According to prosecutors:
Around 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2022, Nunn approached a woman in Arden Hills who had just parked her vehicle outside her workplace. Brandishing a handgun and while masked, Nunn forced her to drive him to an ATM in Minneapolis and withdraw cash so he could pay his rent. He then ordered the victim to drive to Matthews Park in the city’s Seward Neighborhood, where he drove away in her vehicle.
Surveillance videos from surrounding businesses showed Nunn exiting the vehicle, removing his hood and mask, and entering a corner grocery store. Four days later, he returned to the store in a vehicle registered in his name and address. That led to his arrest on Sept. 22, 2022.
A search of Nunn’s residence turned up evidence from the kidnapping and revealed Nunn that had stolen a backpack from Twin Cities Orthopedics in Oak Park Heights and used the owner’s debit card and personal identification at various local retailers.
He also robbed a third person at gunpoint in a Target parking lot in Hudson, Wis., and threatened to kill her if she didn’t hand over her purse. He then used her credit cards to siphon money from bank accounts.
