Walz proposal would put body cameras on corrections officers in prisons

Why, Minnesota Senate Judiciary Chair Ron Latz wanted to know, does the Minnesota Department of Corrections want $1 million per year to place body cameras on corrections officers in prisons when fixed cameras are already in place?

Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell, presenting his proposed budget to Latz's committee recently, said the body cameras capture audio and better images of interactions between inmates and staff, leading to more accountability and reduced violence.

"We think it's going to help us with some of the safety issues that we have," Schnell said in an interview. Cameras will create a visual record: "Were there things along the way that indicated increased levels of agitation?"

Walz included the proposal in his budget with $1 million in each of the next two years. Studies have found the presence of body cameras improved behavior by both the officer and inmate, his proposal said.

The proposal also said body-worn cameras help after-action reviews, analyze responsiveness, aid investigations and prevent sexual misconduct.

Schnell said the biggest expense won't be cameras, it will be data storage. His agency has requested the funding the past couple of sessions, but it hasn't passed despite a 2020 report from the Office of the Legislative Auditor encouraging prison safety enhancements.

Among the recommendations in the report was that the department should "transform its data collection" so it has better information about violent events.

Last month, two prisons went into lockdown after three attacks by inmates. Seven officers were injured, two at Stillwater and one at Oak Park Heights.

"We believe body cameras will reduce some of that and certainly hold people to account better for certain types of behavior," he said.

Both Schnell and Sen. Warren Limmer of Maple Grove, the lead Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the cameras will add to the professionalism of corrections careers.

Limmer, who worked as a corrections officer in the Hennepin County Workhouse in the mid-1980s, said he shares the concern of, "Gee, how many cameras do you need?" But he supports this proposal and said he would vote for it.

"In time a body camera will prove its worth in justifying the actions of corrections officers," Limmer said.

Officers in the Hennepin and Ramsey county jails already wear body cameras, but Jim Stuart, executive director of the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association, said the majority of county jails don't yet have them.

Schnell said officers are concerned the cameras might be used to monitor them. "Those concerns are understandable and at the same time we want this ... to benefit the system as a whole, and that includes the incarcerated folks. I think in the end the cameras will help and support the safety of staff in general far more than it will result in people being in trouble."

A corrections spokesman said the proposal remains alive in a House bill.