STILLWATER, Minn. – The collective-bargain agent for Minnesota prison guards, AFSCME Council 5, called the inmate protest at the Stillwater prison “endemic.” In a statement, the union said the protest “highlights the truth behind the operations” of the state Corrections Department that has led to chronic understaffing that upset offender with restrictions on inmate rehab programming and their recreation time. “There are not enough security staff to protect the facility,” the union said. “Our union believes to our core that our correctional facilities cannot have transformational offender programming without sufficient facility security.”
