STILLWATER, Minn. – The Stillwater State Prison went into emergency lockdown after 200 inmates from one cell block refused to leave an outdoor recreation area and  other common areas and return to their cells.  Protocols went into effect immediately even though Warden Guy Bosch was not on premises when the sit-down began at 8 o’clock Sunday morning. Emergency teams including extra police and firefighters rushed to the prison. All staff were removed from the common areas that inmates had been taken over. Two officers remained in the unit’s secure control area and were in communication other officers in a command center. About 100 prisoners did return to their cells when specifically ordered. ordered. The 100 or so remaining other prisoners in common areas remained peaceful. There was no violence reported, and no injuries. A crisis negotiation team was activated. Inmates said they were peacefully protesting “unsafe living conditions” that included closed windows and inadequate ventilation during recent stifling heat with days hotter than 100 degrees. Also their access to showers and telephones had been severely curtailed in recent weeks because the prison was shorthanded.

Stillwater prison. The main entrance. Capacity: 1,600 male inmates, currently 1,200. It’s been the state’s second largest prison since 2010 when the Faribault prison was expanded to accommodate 2,000 inmates.

Prisoner profile

Main reasons for incarceration and average sentence length:

Homicide: 553 inmates (15 years).

Sexual conduct: 250 (18 years).

Assault: 314 (5 years).

Weapons: 206 (5 years).

Dimestic assault: 166 (2 years).

Robbery: 148 (7 years).

Burglary: 105 (5 years).

Drugs: 136 (6 years).

Stillwater profile

The prison, just south of Stillwater at Bayport, was built between 1910 and 1914. The prison, classified as. medium security, houses 1,200 male inmates in seven cell blocks. About 100 other inmates are in a nearby minimum security area. Prison grounds comprise 35 acres on the west side of the St. Croix River. The prison is one of 11 Minnesota state correctional facilities. The prison replaced an earlier territorial facility that had been in operation since 1853. The new prison’s design in 1910 was innovative at the time: A “telephone pole” layout had a main hallway connecting the cell blocks.