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Gov. Dayton proposes $7 million for state prisons to improve mental health care, reform solitary confinement

Star Tribune - 1/26/2017

Jan. 26--Gov. Mark Dayton is asking the Legislature to approve nearly $7 million to provide better mental health care to Minnesota prisoners and help reform the state's practice of solitary confinement, known formally as "restrictive housing."

The money, included in Dayton's 2018-19 budget request, would allow the Minnesota Department of Corrections to hire 48 new positions over two years to increase security and behavioral health staff, and to provide more treatment and classes designed to reduce rearrests for inmates. It will also allow for more out-of-cell time and make the facilities safer, according to the proposal.

"Funding is necessary to properly address the mental health needs and civil rights of our offenders, comply with new federal guidelines and accreditation standards, and to improve public, staff and offender safety," the budget request said.

Of the request, $3.7 million would go directly toward solitary reform and $3 million would help increase mental health services in state prisons, including in restrictive housing units.

Dayton's proposal comes after a four-part Star Tribune report detailing Minnesota's use of long-term isolation, which found more than 1,600 inmates spent six months or more in solitary over the past decade. More than 400 served one year or longer.

Many arrived to prison with severe mental illnesses and deteriorated after months or years in solitary.

One prisoner spent nine years in solitary, despite a preexisting schizophrenia diagnosis, and said he lost all hope of ever returning to the general prison population and began smearing feces on the walls of his cell and throwing it at prison staff. Another said he tried to kill himself several times to escape what ended up being years in solitary.

According to Dayton's budget request, Minnesota prisons have seen a 20 percent increase in offenders with serious mental illnesses over the past seven years, and 11 percent of prisoners living in solitary confinement have a severe mental illness diagnosis.

Dayton's request also calls for a focus on limiting the number of inmates who leave prison directly from solitary.

As the Star Tribune reported in December, about 700 inmates were released from solitary over a six-year period, some after spending long periods without meaningful human contact and lacking basic transitional services designed help them succeed on the outside.

The budget proposal still needs to pass the Legislature.

Human rights advocates like the ACLU are celebrating Dayton's push for reform as a "step in the right direction toward more humane and effective prisons."

"It's definitely good news," said Ben Feist, legislative director for Minnesota'sACLU chapter. "I think this increased funding really demonstrates that Gov. Dayton really recognizes that solitary confinement is overused and often abused in our prison system, and that new reforms are needed to make sure we follow the use of solitary in prisons and jails."

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(c)2017 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

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