ST. PAUL, Minn. — The state Corrections Department will close two northern Minnesota prisons to help address a $14 million budget deficit. The Togo and the Willow River prisons both are bootcamps for young offenders. Willow Creek has capacity for 180 inmates, Togo for 90. Inmates will be transferred to other facilities in the Challenge Incarceration program, which was created by the Legislature in the 1990s to reduce recidivisim. Department officials said the closings were necessary because the Legislature adjourned without acting on a budget request. Togo is in the George Washington State Forest 40 miles north of Hibbing. Willow River is 20 miles south of Nemadji
