State officials for budget reasons are closing Minnesota’s two smallest prisons, in Willow River and Togo, and will move inmates to two other facilities — either Stillwater, Faribault, Lino Lakes or Red Wing. And what about COVID concerns at those facilities? Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell says, “We will increase the density but we will manage this. We’re able to manage this a little bit better because our [prison] population is as low as it is. And we are really mindful and careful about how we do this.”
The American Civil Liberties Union plans to appeal after a judge threw out a lawsuit alleging the state is not properly protecting inmates from COVID at the prison in Moose Lake.