Lockdown at Minnesota jail when 100 or so inmates ‘refuse’ to go back to their cells in the heat

A Minnesota jail has been placed on emergency lockdown after over 100 convicts refused to return to their cells on Sunday in one housing unit due to dangerously high temperatures in what one former inmate there called an act of “self-preservation.”

Minnesota prison on lockdown after about 100 inmates ‘refuse’ to return to cells amid heat wave. (Photo: KOMO News)

Inmates of Minnesota jail had been held in their purportedly non-air-conditioned cells during sporadic lockdowns since Friday

According to a Department of Corrections representative, the situation is at present stable, and it is unclear why the prisoners are defiant about going back to their cells.

In an article from CBS Austin, the severe heat in Minnesota jail, limited access to showers and ice, and contaminated drinking water, according to advocates outside the Stillwater jail, some of whom have family members there.

Due to personnel shortages, they claimed, inmates of Minnesota jail had been held in their purportedly non-air-conditioned cells during sporadic lockdowns since Friday. The prison is located in Bayport, which is about 25 miles (40 km) east of Minneapolis, where a heat advisory was in effect for afternoon temperatures that might reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius).

According to David Boehnke of the Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, this morning they chose against locking themselves in their cells, despite the fact that there have been lockdowns on and off for the last two months.

According to Bart Andersen, executive director of the union that represents the correctional officers in Stillwater, the occurrence is widespread and exposes the MN Department of Corrections’ operations, which are plagued by chronic understaffing.

According to Andersen, these circumstances cause inmates distress since there aren’t enough security personnel to keep the facility safe and there are limitations on program and recreation time.

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Extreme heat waves around the nation have increased worries about inmates

According to Haynes, Boehnke, and Cathy Stroud Caldwell, the inmate’s action was a spontaneous reaction to dangerous circumstances.

KOMO News reported that extreme heat waves around the nation have increased worries about inmates, especially those housed in facilities with inadequate air conditioning or ventilation.

Two officers at the Stillwater Correctional Facility were said to be in contact with facility staff and safe in a secure control area. No recorded injuries exist.

The Special Operations Response Team has also been deployed out of an abundance of caution, according to the state Department of Corrections, and members of a crisis negotiation team have been mobilized.

According to department data, there are roughly 1,200 prisoners housed at the prison in Bayport, which is located approximately southeast of Stillwater. Developed in 1914.

A “pizza oven” in the summer, according to Kevin Reese, founder of the criminal justice group Until We Are All Free. From 2006 to 2009, he spent the summers confined there.

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