Harry's Gang: Prison lawsuit falls in bounds

It takes some chutzpah to commit a crime, get sentenced to prison, then complain about the poor conditions and ask to be let out.

After all, prison is not supposed to be fun. Or pleasant. That's why they are called "prisons."

So, many of us were not too sympathetic when some prisoners at the Moose Lake Correctional Facility filed a lawsuit to get released from prison due to the pandemic.

But America is a nation of laws. It is our respect for those laws, and the process of creating, enforcing, and applying them, that make America great. While it's sometimes difficult to admit, such lawsuits are an important part of the criminal justice system. Prisoners deserve justice, too. And when we put people in prison, we owe them a duty to feed, clothe, and protect them. If we don't, they have the right to complain about it.

The lawsuit, filed by some prisoners with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota and the local public defender's office, asks the Courts to enforce their right to be in a safe, healthy facility. The lawsuit also asks to be released, if the State can't protect them from being infected with the coronavirus.

Most of the Moose Lake prisoners, if released, would be sent back to the area they came from; prisoners are sent to Moose Lake from across the state so we would not necessarily see a whole bunch of criminals wandering around Carlton County. Still, the facility is in our county and while we welcome the economic opportunity the prison provides, we are cautious about the type of people who live there - criminals. More than a thousand of them. If they are not safely incarcerated, we are at risk.

So, I am watching this lawsuit closely. Apparently, Judge Leslie Beiers in Duluth will be hearing the matter. There's already been an initial hearing and the parties will meet next week (electronically, I assume) to schedule the rest of the case.

By law, a person who is imprisoned or jailed can request a court order to be released. It's called a Writ of Habeas Corpus, which directs the entity holding the prisoner, such as the warden of a prison, to bring the person before the court for a hearing on whether the person should be released or not. This means the prisoners will have a chance to convince a judge, in court, that the law requires some action to protect them from the coronavirus.

The action would be a Writ of Mandamus, which is an order from the court directing that a public agency perform a certain act to enforce the legal rights of a person. A prisoner, for example, has the right to be protected from exposure to the coronavirus. But there's no specific law that states how, exactly, that needs to be done. If the prison is not adequately protecting such rights, the prisoner may ask the court to issue a writ directing the prison to take certain actions to protect them.

The writ may order the prison must not allow more than one prisoner per cell (although that is not specifically requested as of now). Or, that inmates stay at least 6 feet away from each other, even while eating or exercising. The court will have wide latitude to order actions to make sure prisoner rights are protected.

If a Writ of Mandamus is ordered, the protected persons (in this case, the prisoners) now have some way to enforce their rights. For example, if the prison warden refuses to take the actions ordered by the court, the warden could be subject to contempt of court, fines, or penalties, or even arrest. Such actions are rare, as the court process offers both sides to present their arguments to an impartial judge, and such decisions are typically respected by the parties. I'd guess the two sides will come to some settlement, where the prison agrees to certain conditions that are acceptable to the inmates.

It's not pretty, but it's pretty necessary. Addressing the safety and health of our incarcerated populations is, somewhat ironically, one of the consequences of a free society.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News community newspaper and an attorney in Esko who hosts the talk show Harry's Gang on CAT-7. He can be reached at [email protected].