More tests find more cases at prison

The more you look, the more you find. In a little over a week since the Minnesota Department of Corrections began testing more prisoners at its facilities in Moose Lake and Willow River, the numbers of confirmed cases climbed from a total of 29 on April 22 to 78 a week later.

At Moose Lake, where COVID-19 infections first appeared, confirmed cases went from 14 on April 22 to 33 a week later, on Wednesday, April 29. Over the same timeframe in Willow River confirmed cases went from 15 to 45.

An additional 32 inmates in Moose Lake and seven in Willow River are presumed positive - meaning they were exposed to someone who tested positive and are now showing possible symptoms - for a total of 117.

A total of 33 staff members - 29 at Moose Lake and four at Willow River - have tested positive now, with up to nine more suspected or presumed positive. One staff member remains hospitalized.

Increased testing is one of the measures that the DOC implemented last week to try to minimize the spread of COVID-19 at its prisons. The department website showed the total number of inmates tested in Moose Lake went from 24 on April 21, to 45 on April 22, to 72 on April 29. In Willow River over the same dates, it went from 10 to 51 to 61.

"At present, the agency is focused on increased testing at MCF-Moose Lake and MCF-Willow River," said DOC spokesman Nicholas Kimball. "A big change that significantly impacts ML and WR is testing asymptomatic people and on day 12 of 14 of quarantine after having close contact with a person confirmed positive for COVID-19."

DOC commissioner Paul Schnell pointed out that many cases of COVID-19 result in mild to moderate symptoms or even no symptoms at all.

According to a DOC media release from April 24, of 212 incarcerated people tested across Minnesota's 11 correctional facilities, 122 were asymptomatic at the time of the test, but 30 of those 122 tested positive for COVID-19. All 30 remain asymptomatic.

"Of particular concern is the reality that those with minor symptoms can spread COVID-19 to others," Schnell said.

In addition to ramping up testing, the DOC has also approved the early release of six individuals from the Moose Lake and Willow River prisons under the terms of a recently approved COVID-19 work release program.

None of the offenders were released to Carlton County, according to Kimball.

The new temporary policy is an expansion of the state's long-standing transitional work release program, and serves to expedite release of certain inmates who are already within 90 days of their regularly scheduled release date.

"Work release is an established process with a proven track record of ensuring community safety while helping people who have served time in prison to transition back to being good neighbors and productive members of the community," Kimball wrote in an email to the Pine Knot News.

To qualify, inmates must

• Be within 90 days of their regularly scheduled release date.

• Rated a low- or medium risk to re-offend.

• Have an approved place to live in a community-based facility or residence.

• Have access to a landline or have internet access with a camera-capable device at the approved release address.

Lawsuit moves forward

The actions taken by the DOC to increase testing and early release programs are two of the main issues addressed in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota against the Department of Corrections on April 15.

Filed on behalf of three inmates (Roger Foster, Kristopher Mehle and Adam Dennis Sanborn) and "all other similarly situated," the petition asks for the release of the three prisoners and others in a similar situation to a safe location during COVID-19 pandemic because the state has failed to take reasonable measures to protect them.

The three plaintiffs listed in the petition are either near the end of their sentences or at high risk if they catch COVID-19. Foster and Mehle have release dates within 180 days or less, and potential employment awaiting them. Foster has been showing COVID-19 symptoms since early April, but the prison has not tested him. Sanborn is a smoker with asthma, and is being held with people who have COVID-19 symptoms. All three have safe places to go after they're released, according to the petition.

DOC spokesperson Nicholas Kimball declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the DOC has "been engaged with health experts from the beginning to manage the response to the crisis."

ACLU attorney Dan Shulman applauded the DOC actions on testing and early release, but said creating such policies isn't enough.

"It's great what they're doing for the entire system, but it doesn't make sense to try to improve a neighborhood when one house is on fire," Shulman said in an interview with the Pine Knot News earlier this week. "We want a full court press in Moose Lake and now Willow River. For Pete's sake, let's get into the burning building and do something."

Shulman said the ACLU plans to ask the judge to certify the petition as a class action lawsuit, which would then include all prisoners at Moose Lake. (There were no cases in Willow River when the petition was filed.)

In an order issued Wednesday, April 29 by Judge Leslie Beiers, the Sixth District judge noted: "Under our state and federal constitutions, when the State takes a person into custody and holds him against his will, they bear a corresponding duty to assume some responsibility for his safety and well-being."

Beiers set dates of May 11 and May 15 for filing replies and a May 19 date for a hearing, at which the state is ordered to show cause "why they should not be ordered to perform their legal duty to keep Petitioners reasonably safe from COVID-19 while in Respondents' custody at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Moose Lake, to include providing for appropriate testing, social distancing, and medical treatment, so long as the COVID-19 pandemic continues."

Although May 19 is more than two weeks away, Shulman said that's actually pretty quick for a court case like this.

"I think it's a big case," said Shulman. "Just because they are prisoners doesn't mean they've lost their humanity or right to be treated as humans."

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County numbers

As of Wednesday, April 29, the Minnesota Department of Health was reporting 55 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Carlton County. That figure likely includes 29 confirmed cases in the Moose Lake prison reported on Tuesday afternoon. There have been zero deaths in Carlton County from the disease. St. Louis County had 71 confirmed cases and 11 deaths as of Wednesday, with most of the deaths related to outbreaks in long-term care facilities. MDH reported a total of 4,644 positive cases (out of 66,744 tests given) in the state as of Wednesday, with 2,043 no longer needing isolation, and 319 deaths.

— Pine Knot News