Stillwater prison nears half capacity as closure plans advance, official says – Twin Cities

The Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater is set to operate at half its original capacity by Oct. 1, the state Department of Corrections told lawmakers Thursday, Sept. 25, in a remote hearing.

The closure of the prison in Bayport was announced on May 15 as part of a budget deal between Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders, citing concerns about the deteriorating facility and the cost of upkeep. Its full closure is expected by June 30, 2029, according to the DOC.

The prison’s capacity is set to be half, or 553, by Oct. 1, and the population as of this week is 487 incarcerated persons (IPs), Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said Thursday.

The DOC has transferred 2,017 total IPs across the entire prison system since June 16 — 728 have been transferred out of Stillwater, and 244 have been transferred into Stillwater, Schnell reported.

Of those transferred out of Stillwater, 35% have moved to Rush City; 20% to Lino Lakes; 16% to Fairbault; 14% to Moose Lake; 12% to Oak Park Heights; 2% to St. Cloud; and 1% to Red Wing, according to the DOC.

Inmates don’t have a say in when and where they are moved. Schnell said a “rubric” the DOC created prioritizes medical or mental health needs first, then treatment and education needs. Regarding whether inmates are being moved far away from family members in the Twin Cities area, Schnell said Thursday that the DOC does not place inmates strictly based on the family factor.

“We know the benefit and the effect of visiting, and … I just want to be really clear that while it is nice to have that metro facility, at the same time, we do not place strictly on the basis of where family is located. We simply can’t,” he said. “Part of that’s based on the classification of the facility. Part of it’s based on where we deliver services that an individual may need.”

Schnell said that by the end of the 2025 legislative session, Stillwater employed 567 individuals; by Oct. 1, the prison will be down to 231. He said that so far, 95% of the 567 staff members have been able to retain jobs within the Department of Corrections.

The state’s total prison population is 8,206 — a decrease from what the DOC recorded in the 2010s, with a peak population of nearly 11,000 in 2014. The system’s current total capacity is 9,500, and Schnell said that even with the Stillwater closure taken into account, the current incarcerated population is “stable and manageable.”

Lawmaker feedback

The decision to close the prison has drawn pushback from state lawmakers and Stillwater staff members who said there was no discussion or notice of the closure prior to the budget deal announcement in May.

Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said Thursday that while there have been “vague references” to the closure of Stillwater over the years, there weren’t any public hearings regarding the closure throughout the 2025 legislative session.

“There’s a lot of questions that I have now that I guess the toothpaste is out of the tube, and it’s going to be pretty hard to get it back,” he said. “But nevertheless, I’m very concerned about the public transparency issue; the public safety issue I’m concerned about, perhaps the over-reliance on MRRA (the Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act).”

Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, pushed back on the notion that the Stillwater closure came out of nowhere.