For Immediate Release: December 5, 2024
Contact: simona.jones@colorofchange.org
ADVOCATES REJECT RELOCATION AS A SOLUTION TO THE MINNESOTA DOC ORDER
Hennepin County, MN. – On October 31, 2024, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) placed the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center’s license on conditional status and ordered the jail to reduce its population to 600 people –down from more than 800. This comes after the deaths of at least eight incarcerated people, stemming from chronic failures related to well-being checks and staffing. The initial deadline for the order was November 14th, the Acting Inspector General postponed the deadline to today, December 5th, after granting a request from Hennepin County.
The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners recently approved an agreement with seven other counties to temporarily house incarcerated people from Hennepin County in their county jail or correctional facility between December 3, 2024 through May 30, 2025. Hennepin County’s resolution calls for a written plan from the sheriff’s office “to address the strategy, programming and resources for long term solutions” no later than the beginning of March.
In response to these developments, the Hennepin County Attorney Community Relations Board (HCACRB) issued the following statement:
“Relocating people is not a meaningful solution to the problem Hennepin County is required to solve. Placing people in locations that further the distance from their lawyers, medical providers, and loved ones increases their vulnerability to having their rights violated while incarcerated. Incarcerated people have rights to legal representation, medical care, and visits from the public. Increasing the distance between them and their resources is harmful, cruel, and unreasonable.
The approval of $5.4 million to relocate people throughout seven counties is a dangerous strategy disguised as accountability. We won’t be fooled – this is concentrated harm to the community of Hennepin County.
There are other solutions to reduce the number of people in jail. We urge all stakeholders, including the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, to identify long-term solutions that center on decarceration and adequate services.”
The coalition is open to comments on the matter.
###
ABOUT HCACRB:
The Hennepin County Attorney Community Relations Board is a collective of individuals and organizations that aims to advance prosecutorial reform and transform the relationship between the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Hennepin County community through transparency, accountability, and collaboration.