Just hours after Minnesota’s 11th prison inmate died from COVID-19 on Sunday night, Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell briefed senators on how his department
Updated: 2:36 p.m.
Minnesota’s health officials reported 67 new deaths and 2,346 new cases Wednesday as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
The state is now averaging about 44 deaths per day due to the coronavirus, down from an average of 57 two weeks ago.
Test positivity rates have been reaching around 10 percent in the last few days, moving the seven-day average up to about 6.2 percent after reaching a low 4.2 percent last week. Health officials, however, have said that a drop in test demand may be a factor in the COVID-19 data going forward.
The latest details on the coronavirus pandemic come as Gov. Tim Walz announced Wednesday that he’ll loosen restrictions on restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues. Minnesota’s current COVID-19 restrictions, including a ban on indoor dining, run through Sunday night.
At least eight inmates have died this year after contracting COVID-19 in Minnesota s prisons, and more than 4,000 have been infected with the virus including corrections staff.
Since March, most of Minnesota s facilities have remained on semi-permanent lockdown. Inmate movements have been restricted, educational programming has been disrupted and in-person visitation has been suspended to stop the spread of the virus.
And these measures are also taking a toll on family and friends who are not able to regularly see their loved ones.
Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell and MPR News reporter Kirsti Marohn joined host Angela Davis to talk about what is being done to protect the state’s inmates and where they are in line for the vaccine.
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Myon Burrell stepped outside of the Stillwater prison a free man Tuesday after spending 18 years behind bars for a crime he says he never committed, rousing dozens of supporters in the frigid evening into cheers and applause.
Cloaked from head-to-toe in a traditional Islamic thobe garment colored all white to signify rebirth, Burrell raised his right fist in the air as he stood on the prison s front steps. Myon s free! Myon s free! the crowd cheered about 6:45 p.m. while drum beats filled the air.
The Minnesota Board of Pardons voted Tuesday afternoon to immediately release Burrell from a life prison sentence in the 2002 fatal shooting of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was killed when a stray bullet penetrated her Minneapolis home.
Created: December 11, 2020 07:46 PM
Eight inmates have died at correctional facilities in Minnesota since the pandemic began. Two of those deaths happened on Dec. 10, including one at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Faribault and another at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Moose Lake.
MCF-Faribault has been hit especially hard, accounting for half of the COVID-related inmate deaths. More than 40% of the inmates have contracted COVID during the pandemic.
There are 393 inmates who are currently COVID positive while another 432 have recovered. The prison’s population is 1,781. In addition, 119 staff members have tested positive with another two employees presumed positive. Sixty-two of those staff members have returned to work.