Thursday, Minnesota Public Radio's Brandt Williams looked extensively at sentencing reform in Minnesota officials consider how to reduce prison populations. It's a well-researched and sourced look at the issue. Wiliams' report concluded with the paragraph:
ISAIAH opposes a proposed change to the state guidelines which could extend sentences for some repeat offenders. The sentencing commission will also consider other changes to criminal history scores which could result in shorter sentences when it meets Thursday.
Ever since Bluestem Prairie began covering the debate over re-opening the privately-owned Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN, we've grown increasingly interested in corrections reform on the state level. Curious about the outcome of Thursday's meeting, we asked the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission for a statement, which arrived via email:
On December 13, 2018, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission held a public hearing on proposed modifications to the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines and Commentary. At its meeting on December 20, 2018, the Commission unanimously adopted the proposed modifications, as they were amended by the Commission at that meeting. The proposed modifications, as amended, will be submitted to the Legislature by January 15, 2019, and will take effect August 1, 2019, unless the Legislature by law provides otherwise.
Details of the Commission's actions, including the text of the proposed modifications, as amended, will be available to the public after the Commission approves the minutes of the December 20, 2018, meeting. Approval of those minutes will not occur before the next Commission meeting on January 10, 2019. The Commission's 2019 Report to the Legislature, which will be released on or before January 15, 2019, will also contain the proposed modifications.
We've also reached out for statements from lawmakers about the decision. If any statements arrive over the holiday break, we'll post them here--or from news sources.
Photo: Perceptions about prison overcrowding are one factor in the effort to re-open the shuttered CivicCore prison in Appleton. Sentencing reform may be another avenue for prison population reduction.
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