State Corrections Dept. wants to return three people on COVID-19 release to prison

The Minnesota Department of Corrections wants to reincarcerate several people previously released from prison after a closer look at cases of those freed to protect them from serious COVID-19 complications.

The state initially wanted each of the remaining 18 people still on conditional medical release to surrender in August. But a Ramsey County judge soon granted an emergency temporary restraining order following a lawsuit filed on the inmates' behalf.

Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell informed three people Wednesday that he would rescind their COVID-19 conditional medical release, citing conduct such as violating their release terms or unnecessarily exposing themselves to the virus. Another person has been referred for a possible revocation hearing to determine whether their actions constituted a violation.

A fifth person's status determination will be deferred while they undergo surgery and medical treatment. And another will be converted to an alternative release status.

"The conditions of the pandemic have changed and that's why we have sought to end COVID-19 conditional medical release for several months. But this lawsuit and restraining order have delayed our ability to do that," DOC spokesperson Nicholas Kimball said in a statement Wednesday.

"While we do not believe there is an immediate threat to the public, there is risk in further delay. That is why we will be asking the court to vacate the restraining order and have those individuals whose conduct has increased their risk to the public return to prison as soon as possible."

The Clemency Project Clinic, Mitchell Hamline's Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners and the ACLU of Minnesota filed the complaint in Ramsey County District Court soon after the state ordered the 18 people to surrender. Messages seeking comment were left with attorneys representing those still on conditional medical release.

An ACLU spokesperson said the legal team was reviewing Schnell's rescission letters.

ACLU of Minnesota attorney Daniel Shulman told the Star Tribune in August that the state's plan to conduct individual reviews of the 18 cases was "a very wise, human decision."

He added at the time: "I applaud them for taking this step, and I hope that they will let these people remain on [medical release] where they should be."

Ramsey County District Judge Mark Ireland, in granting an emergency restraining order in the case in August, wrote that the Department of Corrections' original plan would force people back into prison "regardless of their individual health risks — which could be significant and even fatal."

The 18 former prisoners were among 158 people granted conditional medical release as COVID raged through the prison population in Minnesota. Nearly 2,300 prisoners applied.

The Corrections Department cited vaccine and treatment availability — as well as better management of the virus in state prisons — as its rationale for ending pandemic-related conditional medical release.

The department launched a new individualized review process for the remaining 18 cases following Ireland's restraining order in August. In seeking to immediately reincarcerate the three people in question, the Corrections Department is pointing to behavior such as failing to remain on strict home confinement or engaging in criminal activity or behavior that unnecessarily exposed them to COVID-19.

"Given your activities in the community while on [release], coupled with your serious criminal history, I believe that continuation of your [release] now presents a more serious risk to the public than it did when you were initially on strict home confinement, and in comparison to the risk that you would pose if your [conditional release] were discontinued and you were returned to prison to complete your statutory term of imprisonment," Schnell wrote in a letter to an inmate on release whose name and medical condition was redacted.

Ireland's order barred the state from terminating conditional medical release or requiring surrender unless there is a specific finding that a person violated a term of their release. Ireland ruled, however, that that the Corrections Department was not prohibited from assessing whether continuing conditional release posed a "more serious risk to the public."

The state wants Ireland to vacate the restraining order so it can return the three remaining people to prison. Unless Ireland lifts the restraining order, those three people may not be ordered to surrender. All parties are due back in court Friday for a status conference.

In a Wednesday letter obtained by the Star Tribune, Schnell addressed a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Minnesota prisons by pointing out that the virus is also prevalent in the community. Schnell wrote that because the purpose of the conditional release policy was to reduce the chance of "grave illness" from COVID-19, "the relevant metric is not the mere infection rate of COVID-19 in state prisons, but the rate of severe outcomes from COVID-19." The state has seen a "marked decrease" in severe COVID-19 outcomes since vaccines and treatment became widely available, he wrote.

Just one of the 13 COVID-related deaths among Minnesota inmates since 2020 occurred this year. Five Minnesota inmates have been hospitalized because of COVID-19 in 2022, compared to 13 last year and 40 in 2020. The vaccination rate among Minnesota prisoners remains higher than that of the state as a whole, 79% vs. 67.6%.

Star Tribune staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this report.