REGIONAL- With the inmate population at Togo Correctional Facility dropping and social media posts warning of impending layoff notices, District 6 Senator David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) is urgently calling on Gov. Tim Walz to convene a special session to keep Togo open before the doors are closed for good at the end of November.
Tomassoni addressed the issue of Togo and MCF-Willow River, also slated for closure, in a Monday press release.
“This action by the department [of corrections] is unacceptable for the individuals serving in these facilities, the workers at these facilities, or the people of Minnesota,” Tomassoni said. “I am calling upon the Governor to call us back into special session for the express purpose of passing a supplemental budget that will address these shortfalls and to ensure that they can continue to operate.”
More than 60 full and part-time staff at Togo will lose their jobs if Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell moves ahead with his plans to plug a $14 million budget shortfall, a move he has reluctantly committed to take if the legislature and Walz don’t approve Schnell’s plea for extra funding that’s been repeatedly kicked down the road since in was introduced last February.
“We cannot afford to have these facilities – which have an impressive record of successfully turning the lives of incarcerated Minnesotans around – close due to issues that could be fixed tomorrow,” Tomassoni said. “Democrats and Republicans both agree we need a supplemental budget; we can certainly get back into session and get it done quickly. There does not need to be agreement on the bonding bill for us to get this done. These programs and jobs are too important, which is why we need a special session to pass a supplemental budget now.”
In his bipartisan appeal, Tomassoni sidestepped past failures of the Republican-controlled Senate to bring the House-approved supplemental funding up for a vote. The Senate also failed to pass a major bonding bill last spring after being unable to reconcile differences in their much smaller proposal with that of Walz.
An October special session is all but certain if Walz wants to continue with his emergency powers to address the COVID-19 pandemic. While Walz recently set benchmarks for ending those powers, there’s little chance that the state will reach them soon. While a supplemental funding bill could be part of that session, Tomassoni appears to be calling for a session where the bill would be the only matter on the agenda.
Togo staff and supporters, bolstered by the AFSCME Council 5-Duluth union, have partnered with area legislators to push for a solution to the Togo dilemma since Schnell first announced the proposed closures in early August. The campaign has included ongoing phone calls and letters to public officials, an online petition, and two well-attended rallies in Nashwauk.
“The Challenge Incarceration Program remains one of our state’s most effective programs to reduce recidivism and prison re-entry,” said Council 5 Executive Director Julie Bleyhl. “The Legislature has historically failed to provide funding that would protect correctional officers, staff, and the public. These closures alone could potentially lay off over 100 correctional officers and staff if they cannot find employment within other areas in the DOC. These workers are on our front lines and deserve our thanks and admiration for their work, not lay-off notices.”
At the first rally in August, Schnell told the Timberjay that the department would stop sending inmates to Togo in anticipation of the closure, and the numbers bear that out. At the time of his announcement, the facility had approximately 60 inmates. As of Tuesday, that number had dropped to 36. A final CIP graduation is scheduled for mid-November, after which only a skeleton crew will be retained for a short period, to close down.
Also after the rally, Schnell expressed optimism a supplemental funding bill could be passed.
“We need to get this through, and I believe that I’m hearing it’s possible,” Schnell said. “We certainly had a lot of conversations about it. But there was a lot of talk about the importance of it. And there is nothing that I would like more than the opportunity to walk this back.”
The Legislature took no action in the subsequent special session in September. Should supplemental funding be approved in October, Togo and Willow River would get the funds to stay open through June 2021.
However, both facilities could face the chopping block again in the spring when legislators contend with a projected $4.7 billion deficit for the next biennium.