# Stillwater prison *Close-custody men's state prison in Bayport, Minnesota* The Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater (MCF-STW) is a men's state prison in Bayport, [[Minnesota]], run at the close-custody (level 4) security grade. It sits south of the city of Stillwater, the site of the territorial prison it replaced.[^1] Wikipedia gives its population as 1,600 men across seven living areas, plus roughly 100 held in a minimum-security area nearby.[^1] The State's own oversight record of the facility includes two documents four decades apart. In 1983 the [[Ombudsman for Corrections]] found that the prison gave five hours of staff training to human and race relations. At the time, racial minorities made up 34% of its population, against 4% of the state's general population.[^2] The Ombudsman recommended an investigation into racial disparity in Minnesota's criminal justice system.[^3] On September 3, 2023, about a hundred men in the [[B-East unit]] refused for seven hours to return to their cells. According to the project's at-issue record, their demand was water, ice and showers on a 98-degree day.[^4] In February 2024 the state's oversight office issued an infrastructure report titled *Crumbling Conditions*.[^5] The project's at-issue record states that the facility is being closed for structural decay, not for the 1983 finding.[^6] The record does not establish whether the investigation the Ombudsman recommended was carried out.[^3] ## Where The prison stands in Bayport. The original Minnesota Territorial Prison was located just to its north, in the city of Stillwater.[^1] Early in the 20th century the old prison grew badly overcrowded, and the Legislature funded a replacement two miles (3 km) south. Wikipedia describes the new site as 160 acres (65 ha). It held five cell buildings, two factory buildings, two warehouses, a hospital, a chapel, a greenhouse and a dining hall.[^7] In 1986, 22 contributing properties at the site were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the State Prison Historic District, with state-level significance in architecture.[^1] The nomination rested on the prison's "telephone pole" plan, which joins each unit to one long main corridor. Wikipedia describes the facility as one of the earliest and most influential examples of a layout that high-security prisons went on to adopt widely.[^1] MCF-STW was the state's largest prison by population until the medium-custody (level 3) facility at Faribault was expanded.[^1] ## When Legislation dealing with territories first provided for a state prison at Stillwater in February 1851. The prison took its first inmates in March 1853, five years before Minnesota became a state.[^7] Wikipedia dates construction of the replacement prison to 1910–1914, and its history section gives 1912 for the new prison's creation.[^1][^7] At first, the warden and a three-member Board of Inspectors ran the prison and set its rules and punishments. In 1901 the State Board of Control replaced the inspectors. It met monthly at the prison, chiefly to review parole requests, until 1959. In that year it handed its authority to the newly created [[Minnesota Department of Corrections]].[^7] In 2008 four inmates used stolen tools, including an electric hammer drill, to dig a tunnel about 25 feet long. They were stopped after a corrections officer traced a power cord.[^7] That same year the facility opened a new segregation unit with room for up to 150 inmates, replacing an outdated medical building that was demolished.[^8] The Ombudsman's finding dates to 1983.[^2] The B-East standoff took place on September 3, 2023, after two months of intermittent lockdowns.[^4] The oversight office's infrastructure report followed in February 2024, about five months later.[^5] ## Who The Ombudsman for Corrections, a state oversight officer, made the 1983 findings and the recommendation for an investigation.[^2][^3] In the 2023 standoff, according to the at-issue record, about a hundred men in B-East took part, and two officers were secured in a control area.[^4] Inmates publish *[[The Prison Mirror]]*, founded in 1887 with the warden's permission. Prisoners paid for it, among them members of the James–Younger Gang. It is believed to be the oldest prison newspaper in the United States that has published without interruption, and it won the Charles C. Clayton award in 1969 and 1987.[^8] ## What The Ombudsman found five hours of staff training on human and race relations at a prison where one-third of the population belonged to racial minorities. The staff was 6% minority. The Ombudsman also documented racial epithets in work areas open only to staff.[^2] According to the at-issue record, the 2023 standoff ended with no one hurt.[^4] The record ties the men's demands to conditions it says the oversight office confirmed in the February 2024 report.[^5] The prison runs an industrial program, education programs, the Atlantis chemical dependency treatment program, and a fine arts painting program for a small number of selected inmates. Men in the minimum-security area maintain the grounds and clean offices in the prison's non-secure areas.[^8] ## How many - Population: 1,600 men in seven living areas, plus about 100 in the minimum-security area.[^1] - Custody level: one of three level 4 (close) custody facilities in Minnesota.[^8] - 1983: five hours of staff training on human and race relations; a 34% minority population against 4% statewide; a 6% minority staff.[^2] - September 3, 2023: about a hundred men, seven hours, a 98-degree day, two officers secured, no injuries.[^4] The at-issue record adds that only two Minnesota prisons are fully air-conditioned.[^4] - Segregation unit (2008): up to 150 inmates.[^8] - Historic district (1986): 22 contributing properties.[^1] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue record pairs two items about the facility. In the first, the State's own Ombudsman documented the training hours, staff composition and population composition in 1983 and recommended an investigation into racial disparity.[^2][^3] The record places that finding beside the facility's closure 43 years later, which it attributes to structural decay rather than to the finding.[^6] In the second, the September 2023 B-East standoff over water, ice and showers is set beside the oversight office's February 2024 report on crumbling infrastructure. According to the record, that report confirmed the conditions the standoff was about.[^4][^5] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater* (revision 1373395008, retrieved 2026-10-28), lead section — location, custody level, population, 1910–1914 construction, 1986 National Register listing, telephone-pole layout, former largest-facility status. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Correctional_Facility_%E2%80%93_Stillwater [^2]: Minnesota Ombudsman for Corrections, report on Stillwater prison (1983; Legislative Reference Library document 840005) — five hours of staff training on human and race relations; 34% minority population against 4% statewide; 6% minority staff; racial epithets in staff-only work areas. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/840005.pdf [^3]: Minnesota Ombudsman for Corrections, report on Stillwater prison (1983; Legislative Reference Library document 840005) — recommendation of an investigation into racial disparity in Minnesota's criminal justice system. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/840005.pdf [^4]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *AI-Washington-027* (event date 2023-09-03), drawing on Spokesman-Recorder and Washington Post accounts and anchored to the oversight office's February 2024 infrastructure report — the B-East standoff: about a hundred men, seven hours, water, ice and showers, 98-degree day, two months of intermittent lockdowns, two officers secured, no injuries, two fully air-conditioned Minnesota prisons. https://mn.gov/obfc/assets/OBFC%20Infrastructure%20Report_Crumbling%20Conditions%20Feb%202024_tcm1157-610210.pdf [^5]: Minnesota state oversight office (OBFC), *OBFC Infrastructure Report: Crumbling Conditions* (February 2024) — the oversight office's report on prison infrastructure conditions, five months after the standoff. https://mn.gov/obfc/assets/OBFC%20Infrastructure%20Report_Crumbling%20Conditions%20Feb%202024_tcm1157-610210.pdf [^6]: Minnesota wiki at-issue record, *AI-Washington-026* (1983), anchored to the Ombudsman's report — the record's statement that the facility is being closed for structural decay, not for the 1983 finding. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/840005.pdf [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater* (revision 1373395008, retrieved 2026-10-28), "History" section — 1851 legislation, 1853 first inmates, 1912 new prison on 160 acres, Board of Inspectors, State Board of Control (1901–1959), transfer to the Department of Corrections, 2008 tunnel attempt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Correctional_Facility_%E2%80%93_Stillwater [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater* (revision 1373395008, retrieved 2026-10-28), "Programs" section — level 4 status, programs, minimum-security work, 2008 segregation unit, *The Prison Mirror* (1887; Clayton awards 1969, 1987). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Correctional_Facility_%E2%80%93_Stillwater