This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections won’t reincarcerate people it placed on supervised release during the pandemic if health issues made them susceptible to severe illness or death from COVID-19.
Throughout the pandemic, the DOC granted 158 inmates conditional medical release. In August 2022, the DOC ordered the inmates to return to prison because the severity of the pandemic was waning. Many of the inmates had been on conditional medical release for months, some even years.
After the Reformer first reported on the DOC’s intention to return the inmates to prison, the ACLU, the University of Minnesota Law School’s Clemency Project Clinic and the Mitchell Hamline School of Law LAMP Clinic filed a lawsuit on behalf of a handful of inmates to stop the the DOC from reincarcerating the inmates.
The DOC and the plaintiffs reached an agreement late last month saying that the three inmates who were still on conditional medical release would not be reincarcerated as long as they don’t violate the terms of their release. The other inmates on COVID-19 release have since completed their sentences and were placed on traditional supervised release.
The three inmates were under house arrest, but the DOC agreed to loosen its restrictions and allow them to leave their homes for employment and education with approval from their parole officers.
“Our clients complied with all requirements of their release and changed their lives for the better,” ACLU staff attorney Dan Schulman said in a statement. “We’re glad that MNDOC recognized this and has agreed to let our clients finish any remaining sentences in their communities, which serves the actual rehabilitative purposes of the department.”
Since the DOC and the inmates came to an agreement, Ramsey County District Court Judge Mark Ireland dismissed the case on Wednesday.
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