Hearing set on court order barring surrender of inmates previously on COVID-19 leave

A Ramsey County judge will hear arguments Oct. 31 on a temporary restraining order preventing the Minnesota Department of Corrections from bringing back prisoners who previously were released to protect them from COVID-19..

District Judge Mark Ireland on Friday scheduled the hearing in the lawsuit, which was filed in August as the state began trying to bring back more than a dozen inmates who had been placed on conditional medical release during the pandemic.

Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell this week sent letters to three of the 18 people still on conditional release to inform them that he planned to order them back to prison. But Ireland's August restraining order is blocking the state from formally requiring those inmates to surrender.

Another person is being considered for a court hearing to determine whether they violated their release terms, and the status of another person on conditional medical release is being delayed pending a medical procedure.

Only one of the plaintiffs named as suing the state, Tanya Mae Wagner, is still challenging the Department of Corrections' (DOC) plans to return her to prison. Wagner was released because she gave birth last year, and Schnell now wants to move her to a postpartum temporary release program that would expire in December, at which time she would be required to return to prison.

"We are grateful that the DOC decided not to return 14 individuals on conditional medical release, four of whom were represented by the [University of Minnesota's] Clemency Clinic. But we will continue to litigate on behalf of our remaining three clients, including Tanya Wagner," said JaneAnne Murray, the clinic's director.

Murray said advocates working with the clinic believe that returning Wagner to prison and cutting her off from her 10-month-old baby "is unnecessary and cruel, and in fact creates public safety concerns rather than serves them."

Dale Allen Jones was the other plaintiff named in the suit, but the Corrections Department is not seeking his return to prison.

Daniel Shulman, an attorney for the ACLU of Minnesota who representsthe plaintiffs, said he wanted extra time to review letters sent this week by the Corrections Department to five people who will either be asked to return to prison or whose conditional release is being considered for rescission.

"We would like an opportunity to confer with public health experts about the statements that were made in those letters," Shulman said.

Corinne Wright, an assistant attorney general who represents the Corrections Department, said the state wants Ireland to end his restraining order as soon as possible so the department can proceed with returning the other people on release to prison.

"There is no reason why those three folks should not be able to go back to report to prison; they are not a party to this case," she said.

The three who were sent letters from the commissioner did not violate the terms of their supervised release. Instead, Schnell cited his authority under state law to determine that they posed a greater risk to themselves and others if they remained on conditional medical release.