Washington County backing CO's

It's refreshing to see that Washington County is prosecuting inmates that assault jail and prison CO's.

New Juvenile Detention Centers needed

The Hennepin County Home School and Saint Paul's Totem Town Juvenile Detention Centers closed down in 2019. 

The results have been obvious. Large spike in crime and little to no consequences. They need to reopen.

This is a good story:

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/talking-points-should-two-metro-juvenile-detention-centers-re-open/

Stillwater Prison Lockdown

Over the weekend OANN and several news outlets reported that almost 100 inmates refused to return to their cells at MCF Stillwater in Minnesota. Two CO's were trapped in a control room and unable to leave. Fortunately this was resolved without injuries to staff or inmates.

This is a direct result of short staffing which leads to inmates spending more time in their cells, less time out and less time with programs. 

This problem exists at the County level too. Inmates left in cells and staff being forced to work excessive amounts of overtime.

Being a CO is a dangerous job. Long hours and high stress are the norm. It's why there's a 55 retirement!

Picture from OANN

Recent Corrections News

DOC: Attempted prison escape in Faribault foiled by razor wire

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/doc-attempted-prison-escape-in-faribault-foiled-by-razor-wire/

2 more corrections officers assaulted in last 12 days

https://alphanews.org/2-more-corrections-officers-assaulted-in-last-12-days/

As lawsuits over ‘48 hour rule’ persist, DHS cites lack of funding for mental health beds

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/as-lawsuits-over-48-hour-rule-persist-dhs-cites-lack-of-funding-for-mental-health-beds/

Trans inmate to be moved to Minnesota women's prison and PREA

KSTP is reporting that a transgender woman (biological male) that was housed at Moose Lake Prison won a lawsuit, is getting $495,000 and being transferred to Shakopee Women's prison.

Full story here: https://kstp.com/kstp-news/minnesota-news/doc-settles-trans-rights-lawsuit-to-transfer-first-inmate-under-new-policy/ 

This creates another quandary for Corrections Officers. The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) has many requirements.

Inmates are routinely searched in jails and prisons. 

For one PREA States, "The Facility shall not conduct cross gender strip searches or cross gender visual body cavity searches..." (ss115.15) 

Facilities with less than 50 inmates cannot perform cross gender pat searches of female inmates. What is Minnesota considering a female inmate now? Maybe someone can ask Justice Ketanji Brown.

The facilities are to "implement policies and procedures that enable inmates to shower, perform bodily functions and change clothing without nonmedical staff of the opposite gender viewing their, breasts, buttocks or genitalia..." Are inmates to be unsupervised in showers?

All PREA violations are required to be investigated. A PREA violation can be inmates alleging sexual misconduct from other inmates, staff, or staff ignoring a complaint. This means CO's face the very real possibility of spending time on Administrative leave, harm to their reputations and of course more staffing shortages.

In New Jersey a trans inmate got two other inmates pregnant before being transferred to a male prison. Like Minnesota this trans inmate also won a lawsuit to be placed in a Woman's Prison. https://www.metroweekly.com/2022/04/female-inmates-pregnant-after-having-sex-with-transgender-inmate/

In New York a Trans Rikers Island  inmate was convicted of raping two female inmates and sentenced to 7 years. https://nypost.com/2022/04/25/transgender-rikers-inmate-gets-7-years-for-raping-female-prisoner/

In Illinois an inmate is suing the Illinois Department of Corrections under the Prison Rape Elimination Act claiming she was raped by a trans inmate and the incident was swept under the carpet. https://news.wttw.com/2020/02/19/lawsuit-female-prisoner-says-she-was-raped-transgender-inmate

One of the primary jobs of a CO is the safety and security of the facility. Rulings like this make keeping inmates safe infinitely more difficult. I'm afraid Minnesota is going to learn what New Jersey, New York and Illinois learned the hard way. Sadly some female inmates will bear the brunt and some CO's may be caught in a web of conflicting laws and regulations. 

48 Hour rule change may impact jails, again

Fox 9 is reporting that an amendment to the 48 hour rule will cause more issues for local jails. Currently if an inmate is determined to need mental health care they are to be transferred to a State Hospital within 48 hours. That's not always happening and apparently MN AG Keith Ellison is tired of the State getting sued. So the solution appears to be an amendment to have the 48 hours begin after a bed is available! Those of us who have worked in County jails know the danger to both staff and inmates when they don't receive prompt mental health care. Jails are not mental hospitals.

Full Story

Waseca women's prison using non-correctional staff!

 According to KSTP TV 

“While FCI Waseca is generally well-run and both inmates and staff reported feeling safe, it suffers from a significant shortage of correctional officers,” said Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

According to the report, the prison is running with only 67% of its correctional service positions filled, leading to the temporary assignment of non-correctional officer personnel into correctional officer positions, a practice known as augmentation.

Correctional officer posts were filled most commonly with personnel from the Facilities Department, Unit Team and Education Department.

“If you’re a maintenance man, you certainly don’t have the qualifications to be a corrections officer,”  said Sheila Gardner, whose sister is serving a sentence at Waseca right now. 

FULL STORY and Video

Repost from Invisible Wounds Project

This is a repost from Invisible Wounds Project

 In the last month, 15+ MN DOC officers were assaulted by inmates, and several of these assaults were serious. This is not news to our organization. We work with many DOC officers who are struggling. It’s a tough job, made even tougher when your administration doesn’t have a backbone, and doesn’t support the officers on the frontlines.

Rewind to May 14, 2022, CCO Henninger and his K9 partner Rogue successfully stopped an active staff assault situation at MCF Rush City. Last Friday, nearly 11 months later, Commissioner of Corrections Paul Schnell made the decision to remove Rogue from the prison, his handler/family, and also demoted the K9 handler. He deemed this incident as a “bad bite”, despite the fact that the inmate was actively assaulting staff. With this decision, Commissioner Schnell has told officers that their safety does not matter.

You can contact Commissioner Paul Schnell’s office and let him know to put Corrections Officers safety first and foremost. Office Phone 651 361-7226.
Office Email Paul.Schnell@state.mn.us.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/russ-hanes-0a4908100_in-the-last-month-15-mn-doc-officers-were-activity-7051560001265430528-vTdg?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Inmate gets 10 years for assaulting a CO on Rikers Island!

The NY Post is reporting an inmate received a 10 year sentence for stabbing a NYC Corrections Officer in the head!

https://nypost.com/2023/04/05/rikers-inmate-gets-10-years-behind-bars-in-brutal-attack-on-nyc-correction-officer/

Chronic Offender who assaulted a CO evades Justice

Alpha News is reporting that a chronic offender who assaulted a Lino Lakes CO with a chair and gave him a concussion in 2020 was released four months later.

The inmate was charged with 4th Degree Assault on a Corrections Officer but failed to appear in court. On subsequent arrests since then those charges were never adjudicated!

Full Story Alpha News

Disability danger and don't dare challenge it!

There is major legislation that endangers public employee disability retirement recipients. A hearing was held, many people showed up to testify against it and the Bill's Author, Representative Her seemed visibly angry that they dared to challenge the Bill she had authored!

Called a Police and Fire Bill HF 1234  was broadened out to fundamentally change how disability pensions work for all public employees including the PERA Correctional Plan and the General Group. 

For a synapsis go to the MNCORA Blog.

The Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement (LCPR) held a hearing on March 20th. 

11 people signed up to testify against it including MNCORA. (click on the link  to MNCORA to see video of their testimony on that page).

The only Union to show up to testify against this Bill was MNPEA-see video here. 

It was very educational to watch affected people who's time to testify was cut to just 90 seconds, often choking back tears, not be asked one question by any of the members of the LCPR then to have the following reply from the Author of the Bill.

Below is the response of Representative Her to the people who testified against the Bill she is the Author of. Note she states "There's not one provision in this Bill that is mine!" Yup, don't blame me. She also admits they didn't talk to any individuals because they spoke to their Unions! Apparently individuals are not stakeholders. Also, when someone is on a disability retirement they must resign their job so they usually are no longer a member of a Union. She had a room overfilled with affected people and 11 speakers of whom she didn't bother to ask a single question of.

You can watch the entire meeting here https://youtu.be/SYYvNRRQhpc

Female CO blinded in assault at MCF Oak Park Heights

Fox nine is reporting a female CO was assaulted at Oak Park Heights MCF and lost the sight in one eye. This falls on the heels of 7 other CO's assaulted in three seperate assaults at both Stillwater MCF and Oak Park Heights in recent days.

Fox nine is reporting she "was transported to Regions Hospital for treatment. She suffered significant damage to her right eye and multiple facial fractures. The officer had multiple surgeries to help fix her eye, but the damage was irreversible, and she lost vision in her eye.  

The officer also needs at least four additional surgeries to repair the facial fractures, according to the complaint."

Attacks on Corrections Officers are up in both County and State facilities largely due to low staffing. And the powers that be have chosen this time to attack the disability pensions of PERA Correctional Plan members!

6 CO's injured in 2 assaults one at Stillwater MCF and the other at Oak Park Heights MCF

 WCCO is reporting that six CO's were injured in 2 assaults one at Stillwater MCF and the other at Oak Park Heights MCF!

Full story here: 

PERA recommends change to disability pension!

On March 2nd the PERA Board met and unanimously recommended a major change to the PERA  disability portion of our pension! 

MNCORA opposes this.

Please read here-https://mncoretirementassociation.blogspot.com/2023/03/pera-is-recommending-major-change-to.html

House votes down exempting Social Security from State income tax!

Last night the Minnesota House, along party lines, voted not to exempt Social Security from the Minnesota State income tax. Minnesota is one of 10 States that taxes it! With a $17.6 billion surplus clearly we are overtaxed. 

The Democrats priorities are skewed, because also last night the Democrats voted to grant drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Senator Tina Smith commented on this saying, "This means 80,000 people can rest easier tonight."

The way this writer sees it is that Democrats are willing to spend money housing, educating and providing medical and now drivers licenses to 80,000 people here against the law, but can't give a tax break to Minnesota's Senior Citizens.

Governor Walz said they 'have a mandate.' News flash, a one seat majority in the Senate and five seat majority in the House is not a mandate. Governor Walz grew accustomed to ruling by decree during the pandemic and the Democrats feel the same jamming things through on a slim majority. 

Elections do have consequences, but they should be mindful the pendulum will swing back the other way. Remember, there are over 900,000 people over 65 in Minnesota, and many more who retired at 62 and are drawing Social Security. Unlike the 80,000 people in Minnseota illegally, the 900,000 can vote.

See how your representative voted on exempting Social Security from State Income tax (green is for, red is against).

PERA election update

 As many know I was running for a seat on the PERA Board.

I received the following email yesterday:

Gladys Rodriguez (PERA)

Tue, Feb 14, 12:02 PM (21 hours ago)

Dear Wade, 

Thank you for your interest in the PERA Board of Trustees election, and for your investment of time and energy in running to represent the Retired Membership on the Board. Unfortunately, you were not selected. The election results will be certified this Thursday at the PERA Board of Trustees meeting.

 

Thank you, again, for taking the time to participate in the PERA Board election.

 

Warm Regards, 

GLADYS RODRIGUEZ | EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

While I am disappointed the good news is I received over 7,000 votes! I spoke to PERA's Executive Director and he informed me I always have his ear. 

This speaks a lot to the influence of the MNCORA members, we will not be easy to ignore.

There's a lot of work to do protecting our pension and MNCORA has been and will be busy protecting and trying to strengthen our PERA Correctional Pension.

One very important point. The PERA Correctional Plan has over $1 billion in the PERA fund and Correctional Officers and their retirees have no voice. We need a seat at the table!

Thank you to all the MNCORA members, LEO's, PERA members and Retirees who supported me. It was a good showing.

Best of luck to Denny Flaherty who won.

Wade

Multiple inmate overdoses-Morrison Co jail

 KARE 11 is reporting that:

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — Sheriff's and police investigators in Little Falls are trying to determine how six inmates were able to overdose on drugs that somehow got inside the Morrison County Jail. 

Morrison County Sheriff's Shawn Larsen says jail staff were alerted just before 7 p.m. Saturday that an inmate in a housing unit was unresponsive. Staff quickly called for backup and both law enforcement and medical first responders arrived to provide lifesaving efforts including administering Narcan, used in instances of opioid overdoses. 

FULL STORY

DOC orders Ramsey County Jail to reduce capacity

KSTP:  For the second time this week, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) has ordered a county jail to reduce capacity, citing multiple violations.

Friday, the DOC ordered the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center to submit a capacity reduction plan by the end of the day Monday.

It comes after the department said it investigated a complaint regarding multiple licensing rule violations stemming from inadequate staffing levels at the jail. Those violations included the facility’s refusal to take inmates to get offsite emergency medical care.

“As the state’s licensing authority, any risk to the life and safety of those in custody must be addressed immediately,” DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “When the stakes are this high, taking decisive action quickly is a must.”

Full Story on KSTP

Have you received your PERA ballot?

If you are a PERA member, PERA is in the midst of the Board election.

I am running for the Retirees, Disabled and Survivors beneficiaries seat and would greatly appreciate your support.

More about me here: https://mncoretirementassociation.blogspot.com/2023/01/vote-wade-laszlo-for-pera-board.html

You can vote electronically or by mail. My understanding is ballots must be post marked by January 31st.

I have heard from a couple of people they have not yet received their ballot. If not call PERA at 651 652-9026

Thank you,

Wade

PERA Ballots out and opposition

Ballots are in the mail for the PERA Board election. The MNCORA Board has endorsed me for the Retired, Disabled and Survivors seat. 

See this post-https://mncoretirementassociation.blogspot.com/2023/01/vote-wade-laszlo-for-pera-board.html

There is another person also running. Dennis Flaherty, former police officer and former head of the MPPOA.

In the late 90's when we were working on creating the PERA Correctional plan the MPPOA under Dennis Flaherty's leadership opposed it!

In 2017 LELS/MPPOA backed DECREASING the PERA Correctional COLA from 2.5% to 1%. They wanted to "share the pain" to help bolster the weaker PERA Pensions like Police and Fire. Fortunately I was at that meeting and was able to stop it.

As recently as last year the MPPOA supported legislation to add Dispatchers to the Correctional plan and submitted a letter of support along with several letters from their LELS members. While Dennis Flaherty was no longer with the MPPOA it shows their continued disdain for for Correctional Officers and they view our healthy pension as one to be raided to bolster others. 

Police and Fire already have a dedicated seat on the PERA Board. There are no Correctional Officers on the PERA Board.

I personally attend PERA Board meetings. I have never seen Dennis Flaherty at any of them!

My seat will require representing Retired, Disabled and Survivors, I will treat that responsibility with all the passion I had representing members as a Union steward. I will have a vote on all issues coming before the PERA Board.

The PERA Correctional plan has about $1 Billion in it and no dedicated voice. 

We need a CO's point of view. Police and Fire already have one dedicated seat.

I will represent all PERA members without trying to bolster one group at the detriment of another.

I would appreciate your support when you receive your ballot.

Wade Laszlo

President MNCORA

MNCORA

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