‘I was in prison, and…’

‘…you herded me like overcrowded chattel.’

Prison conditions in Minnesota are bad and getting worse. We may have a relatively low prison population, but we are also one of the few states in the US where imprisoned population is increasing. Our state, which is 83% white, has a prison population which is 51% non-white. We have a situation where prisoners are being shunted into the county system, and where our state legislators are unwilling to increase spending to maintain this population in dignified conditions. The reason? We have insane sentencing laws and 40% of our state’s inmates are there on technical violations of parole, a non-violent offence which should not be punished by more prison time. As far as policy goes, reincarceration of prisoners on technical parole violations needs to end.

‘…you denied me medicine.’

Two hundred eighty prisoners have died in Minnesota prisons between 2000 and 2013 – and substandard medical care to prisoners with health conditions (as well as deliberate neglect) has undoubtedly contributed to this number.

‘…you stripped me naked, bound me and denied me food and water and the company of my loved ones.’

Minnesota prisoners are being collectively punished for the recent murder of Joseph Gomm by a Stillwater prison inmate. They were escorted with dogs and automatic rifles to the gym, where they were shackled together, stripped naked and told to sit in the middle of the gym during a shakedown. The present lockdown means that they are being denied showers and warm food, and their friends and family on the outside were forbidden from talking to them until the 11^th of this month, and even now only by phone under surveillance. Even before the lockdown, Minnesota inmates were routinely denied access to post and packages from the outside.

‘…you made me work for two dollars a day.’

In Minnesota, imprisoned labourers under the Department of Corrections and the for-profit entity Minncor Industries are made to work for 25 cents an hour. As reported by Matt Gretz of the Prison Mirror, this represents pay that has been slashed from $1.50 per hour. At the same time, the goods for sale in the prison canteen have steadily increased in price. These inhumane and exploitative conditions and practices have steadily been getting worse, and the executives of Minncor Industries make six-figure salaries off of these slavery-like conditions under which they use prison labour.

Over the past forty years, it seems like we have forgotten that the dignified treatment of prisoners is not just a bleeding-heart hobby-horse. It is a Gospel imperative enjoined upon us by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, on the pain of æternal perdition. And let’s not pretend that one political party or ideology is any better than the other on this issue. The present deplorable state of Minnesota prisons is the result of decades of legalistic ‘tough-on-crime’ policy enforced and supported by both major parties, and more generally the result of the logic of capitalism. The Incarcerated Workers’ Organising Committee is doing excellent work bringing attention to the plight of prison populations across the country during the prison strike now ongoing. This cause is one worthy of support in various ways.

The Minnesota Prison Doula Project both advocates for humane prison conditions and for incarcerated women dealing with pregnancy and other health issues. Pages to Prisoners aims to get books to inmates across the Midwestern states for the purposes of self-education, similar to what Books through Bars does in the Mid-Atlantic states. And of course the Incarcerated Workers’ Organising Committee and other advocacy and organising groups can always use support and volunteer work. I strongly encourage my readers to do their part in fulfilling the Gospel commission.