Two years after law passed, Minnesota still lacks early prison release program

Two years after Minnesota passed a law allowing inmates to shorten their sentences through rehabilitation, only six people have been released — far fewer than advocates expected.

The Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act (MRRA), passed in 2023, allows eligible inmates to reduce their sentences by up to 17% through individualized treatment and education plans.

Yet rolling out the new Department of Corrections (DOC) program has proven more complex than anticipated. Advocates say this has left thousands waiting for early release, despite earlier assurances that the system would be in place by now.

A pilot program slated to begin in February did not fully launch at the Moose Lake and Shakopee prisons until the summer.

The delays have frustrated proponents of the reform.

“Every day that passes without fulfilling this implementation is another day a child grows up without a parent, a job is left without an employee,” said Jermale Kling, a former prison inmate who now works with the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), which held a small protest last week. “We’re not asking for sympathy, we’re demanding fairness.”

DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said the department anticipates expanding the program in the coming weeks.

Efforts to train staff, gather victim input and build the technology to track progress and outcomes have taken longer than expected, Schnell said.

“All of this work has been largely done through very manual processes,” he said.

Before the MRRA passed, Minnesota was one of a dozen states that did not have a rehabilitation program. However, unlike some other states, it uses determinate sentencing, in which individuals serve two-thirds of their prison term in custody and the remaining third on supervised release.

Under MRRA, inmates can work with the DOC to set up individualized rehabilitation plans that include medical or mental health treatment, counseling, education or job training goals. After leaving prison, people can shorten their supervision time by meeting goals like maintaining employment.

The program is not available to inmates serving life sentences.

The department plans to integrate the early release program into each prison’s daily operations.

“This should not be done by a specialized unit,” he said. “This should be built into the very nature of the way we do what we do.”

Inmates say the delays have emotional costs. Activists have been protesting the wait even before the change went into effect.

“I saw so many people get their hopes up as far as having release plans to go home, to be called into their caseworker’s office and told, ‘I’m sorry, this isn’t happening. I’m sorry, you don’t qualify. I‘m sorry, the policy is not ready,’” said Darla Holland, who was released from prison five weeks ago after serving a sentence for fraud.

Elijah Milsap, who has been incarcerated for nine years at Oak Park Heights prison on a sex trafficking charge, said the MRRA gives him hope. But he is confused as to what it actually means.

With the closure of Stillwater prison, Milsap said he thinks the DOC should be more motivated to speed up the implementation of the MRRA to open up bed space.

Only three of the 17 who participated in the pilot program were people of color — two Native Americans and one of Asian descent. Two of them were released.

Bobbi Holtberg, executive director of the Minnesota Alliance on Crime, said her coalition, which works closely with the Department of Corrections, will be monitoring the agency as it expands the program to ensure it better reflects the demographics of Minnesota’s prison population, she said.

The incarcerated population is 48.5% white, 39.4% Black, 9% Native and 2.7% Asian, according to July data from the DOC.

Holtberg said racial disparities in disciplinary actions behind bars could be one reason so few people of color were included in the pilot.

Holtberg said her organization is concerned that the policy “perpetuates the thought that Black incarcerated individuals are more dangerous — and that isn’t true."

Schnell said the department also is working to engage crime victims — locating them, gathering their input and ensuring their feedback is incorporated into each person’s rehabilitation plan.

Holtberg said her organization supports the intent of the MRRA but wants to ensure victims are included early and meaningfully. The Minnesota Alliance on Crime and other victim service coalitions have been meeting with the DOC since before the law was passed.

“We believe wholeheartedly that by addressing individual rehabilitative needs, it increases safety and helps victim survivors,” Holtberg said.

Savings from reduced incarceration costs will be reinvested in victim services, community supervision, crime prevention and the state’s general fund.

Walz’s “No. 1 bottom line proposition [is] he wants it done right,” Schnell said. ”He wants it done to produce better public safety outcomes. That was the explicit goal, and that’s what we want to deliver on.”

Advocates and families, however, said the state’s pace undermines the law’s intent to reward rehabilitation and reintegration.

David Boehnke, an organizer with IWOC, said his group estimates at least 1,000 people qualify for release under the program. Schnell said he could not verify that figure or provide his own estimate, noting that the MRRA is an individualized program.

Kya Concepcion, with the racial and environmental justice organization Black Visions, said the “policy on paper isn’t freedom in practice” and called on the DOC to publish a detailed implementation timeline.

Schnell said that’s something the department is working on, with plans to begin by prioritizing people convicted of crimes that are not victim-related.