Duluth federal prison camp closure in apparent limbo

DULUTH – A plan to close the federal prison camp here appears to be on pause as lawmakers ask the Trump administration to reverse the decision.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in December the minimum-security Duluth facility was among seven across the country to be deactivated, which is just short of permanently closed. It would mean transferring about 700 inmates and displacing 90 federal workers, some to a prison facility in Sandstone, Minn., an hour southwest of Duluth.

The president of a union representing federal employees at the prison said this week that about 200 inmates had been transferred elsewhere as of Jan. 24, which had been a transfer deadline for all. A spokeswoman from the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a Tuesday email that the bureau is “conducting an assessment of the facility and our population needs” in order i to determine next steps, but did not explain why only some inmates had been transferred.

“They haven’t communicated anything further,” said union President Tonya Gajeski, who was in Washington to advocate for Minnesota prison facilities. “It’s hard. I don’t know if I should be looking for another job.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber represents the Eighth Congressional District in northern Minnesota. He wrote a letter to President Donald Trump in late January asking him to reverse the closure decision made by former federal prison director Colette Peters, who resigned in January.

He said Peters couldn’t provide information on staffing levels at the Sandstone facility when they spoke in December, despite the plan to move Duluth workers there.

“Details like staffing numbers of surrounding prisons would seem to be important in the reorganization decision-making process,” Stauber wrote.

Duluth workers say Sandstone has little room for more employees. And those in Duluth are largely there because they want to live in the area, Gajeski said.

The all-male Duluth prison camp has been located on a former U.S. Air Force base for more than 40 years. It was cited by the Bureau of Prisons as having “aging and dilapidated infrastructure,” including several condemned buildings contaminated with asbestos and lead paint.

Gajeski said its condition is better than what’s been portrayed and its facilities department has inmates learning plumbing and electrician skills who work to make quick repairs.

“The roofs aren’t caving in. The walls aren’t falling over,” she said. “None of it is life-threatening or detrimental to anybody’s health.”

Stauber’s letter says his staff had inquired of bureau staff last June about the camp’s infrastructure. No concerns surfaced, he said.

Duluth inmates have 10 or fewer years of their sentences remaining and camp programs focus on education and re-entry into society.

Closure of the camp would “have a ripple effect” in Hermantown and Duluth, where employees live and where their children attend school, Gajeski said.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, too, has spoken with Bureau of Prisons leadership and “continues to push for action on this issue to ensure the best future for the workers, their families and the community,” according to a press secretary.