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A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
Minnesota State Prison, Stillwater, ca. 1895. Photo by Briol Studio.
Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater, Minnesota’s oldest prison, was built in Stillwater as the Territorial Prison in 1853. It moved to a location in what is now Bayport between 1910 and 1914. MCF-Stillwater has been the site of multiple rebellions and also publishes the Prison Mirror, likely the oldest continuously operated prisoner newspaper in the US.
When European settlers first colonized the Dakota and Ojibwe land that would become the state of Minnesota, people accused of breaking territorial law were sent to Fort Snelling. Military guards watched them, but they often escaped before they were sentenced. Minnesota Territory’s legislature requested money from the federal government to build a prison in 1849, and Congress approved the request in 1850.
Territorial officials chose to build the prison on a marshy piece of land in Stillwater, a settler-colonial St. Croix Valley hub, and the newly completed stone prison received its first prisoners in 1854. It held both men and women. It had six cells, two dungeons for solitary confinement, and a twelve-foot perimeter wall.
“Rioting,” “adultery,” and “stealing horses in Indian Country” were among the crimes that landed people in the prison in its early years. Staff punished “unruly conduct” or “disobedience” by putting prisoners in the dungeon and giving them only bread and water. Staff were also permitted to whip prisoners twenty times a day for five days. Escapes were common. The prison's first warden put prisoners to work for his private manufacturing business. In 1890, the state built its own twine-binding factory inside the prison—a forerunner of the statewide prison industries program later called MINNCOR.
The state eventually expanded the prison, but it was damp and infested with roaches and bed bugs. Between 1912 and 1914, prison officials moved everyone into a new facility two miles south in a town now called Bayport, and they closed the old facility down. In 1920, when the state opened a reformatory for women, the Minnesota State Prison at Stillwater became a men’s facility.
The 1960s and 1970s saw an increase in upheaval at the prison. Prisoners staged rebellions, from labor strikes and sit-ins to setting sheets on fire. Small groups of prisoners tried to escape. Unions jockeyed to represent prison staff. One union demanded that the legislature investigate the prison administration. As these events unfolded, people across Minnesota debated the purpose and culture of the prison.
In 1969, Minnesota’s first commissioner of human rights sued the prison administration over the use of tear gas against a group of mostly Black and Native American prisoners. The prison’s warden said the concerns about racism were an attempt to “incite problems” among prisoners. In 1970, a judge decided that the Department of Human Rights did not have the power to monitor discrimination within the prison.
Between the 1980s and 2000s, the number of people incarcerated in Minnesota steadily rose. In 1997, the Minnesota legislature required the Department of Corrections to put more than one prisoner in each cell “to the greatest extent possible.” By 2010, more than five times as many Minnesotans were locked up as in 1981.
American Correctional Association (ACA) reviews in 2018 and 2019 found that the Stillwater prison—now called Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater—was too crowded to meet national standards. The ACA found the prison did not have adequate space in shared cells, common space in cell blocks, or plumbing for the number of people incarcerated there.
By January 1, 2020, Minnesota’s first prison was one of eleven adult prisons across the state. With a population of 1,529, it held roughly a sixth of the state’s prisoners.
Alexander, Stanley. "Result of Investigation into Disturbance in Cell Hall C-Seg on 8/21/69." September 16, 1969. Minnesota Department of Corrections, Commissioner's Office. Subject files of Paul W. Keve, 1965–1970. State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Dunn, James Taylor. “The Minnesota State Prison During the Stillwater Era, 1853–1914.” Minnesota History 37, no. 4 (December 1960): 137–151.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/37/v37i04p137-151.pdf
Ferguson, Robert. “Stillwater State Prison Historic District.” National Register of Historic Places nomination form, September 30, 1985.
https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/nrhp/text/86001574.PDF
Giel, Dave. “200 Prison Inmates Strike, List Demands.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 13, 1972.
Heilbron, William. Convict Life at the Minnesota State Prison, Stillwater, Minnesota. St. Paul: Murphy-Travis, 1909.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/48208/48208-pdf.pdf
Hesselton, Denise Suzette. “Crisis and Reform at Minnesota’s Stillwater Prison, 1960–2000.” PhD diss., University of Minnesota, 2007.
Keve, Paul. “Letter to Conrad Balfour, Commissioner of Department of Human Rights.” August 20, 1970. Department of Corrections, Commissioner's Office. Subject files of Paul W. Keve, 1965–1970. State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
——— . “Letter to State Capitol Employees Union President, Russell E. Simmons.” November 21, 1969. Department of Corrections, Commissioner's Office. Subject files of Paul W. Keve, 1965–1970. State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Minnesota Department of Corrections. “Minnesota Correctional Facilities Adult Inmate Profile.” January 1, 1981. Private collection of the author.
——— . “Adult Prison Population Summary.” January 1, 2010. https://mn.gov/doc/assets/MinnesotaDepartmentofCorrectionsAdultInmateProfile01-01-2010_tcm1089-276292.pdf
——— . “Adult Prison Population Summary.” January 1, 2020.
https://mn.gov/doc/assets/Adult%20Prison%20Population%20Summary%201-1-2020_tcm1089-418232.pdf
——— . “The Minnesota Department of Corrections Biennial Report 1967–69.” Available at the Minnesota Historical Society as HV7273 .A29 1965/66-1971/73.
——— . “State of Minnesota Department of Corrections Biennial Report 1969–71.” Available at the Minnesota Historical Society as HV7273 .A29 1965/66-1971/73.
Newlund, Sam. "Racial Groups at Prison Suspended Over Revolt." Minneapolis Tribune, December 2, 1970.
Office of the Legislative Auditor, State of Minnesota. “Evaluation Report: MINNCOR Industries.” February 2009.
https://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/minncor.pdf
——— . “Safety in State Correctional Facilities: 2020 Evaluation Report.” 2020.
https://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/prisonsafety.pdf
“Ombudsman for Prisons Is Named by Minnesota.” New York Times, August 14, 1972.
“Problems in Big-Prison Programs.” Minneapolis Tribune, April 28, 1970.
Stillwater State Prison, Minnesota. Annual report collection, [1853]–1878. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society as HV8343 .A12 [1853]–1878.
Stillwater State Prison, Minnesota. Biennial report collection, 1880–1952. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society as HV8343 .A12 1880-1952.
"Tear Gas Smothers New Rebellion at Stillwater." Brainerd Daily Dispatch, December 11, 1960.
Video Clip Number 38240
Title: Stillwater State Prison labor dispute
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Stillwater State Prison labor dispute, Stan Turner reporter, July 2, 1969.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10512445
Video Clip Number 38241
Title: Stillwater State Prison labor dispute
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Stillwater State Prison labor dispute, Stan Turner reporter. Footage of a meeting where people are seated at tables, also footage of prison staff doing there [sic] jobs, including maintenance workers, clerical workers, and guards, July 2, 1969.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10512446
Video Clip Number 38893
Title: Stilwater [sic] prison Warden Jack Young
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Footage showing exterior of prison and damage to the interior of the prison. Stillwater Prison Warden Jack Young is seen briefly, ushering a group of people in to [sic] the prison, September 4, 1969.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10513098
Video Clip Number 39714
Title: Frank Kent on Stillwater riot
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Frank C. Kent discussing Stillwater State Prison riot and mistreatment of prisoners, Richard Albers reporter, November 12, 1969.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10513919
Video Clip Number 98071
Title: Stillwater
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Footage of two men leaving a secure area of Stillwater State Prison and of another man walking along a cell block in the prison, January 1, 1970.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10572210
Video Clip Number 41246
Title: Stillwater prison- 3 captured
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Footage related to the escape and capture of three prisoners from Stillwater State Prison. Silent footage of Warden Jack Young walking in the prison, a helicopter hovering over the prison, a police officer and canine entering the prison, exterior shots of the prison, and Warden Jack Young speaking to reporters. Images of the exterior of the Washington County Courthouse, Stillwater State Prison, guards inside the prison. Images and sound of an interview with Warden Jack Young discussing the escapees, April 2, 1970.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10515468
Video Clip Number 42681
Title: Stillwater prison- protest conditions
KSTP-TV Archive, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Footage of a protest against alleged mistreatment of prisoners at Stillwater State Prison. Several protestors are interviewed by reported [sic] Dave Lehman, December 25, 1970.
http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10516902
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In 1914, the Minnesota State Prison closes down its Stillwater location to complete the move to a facility in what is now the town of Bayport.
Minnesota’s first prison is built in Stillwater. It is made of stone and has six cells and two dungeons.
The legislature votes to allow the warden to release the prisoners of counties that have not paid the state for the cost of incarceration.
Prisoners start a newspaper, the Prison Mirror, that will go on to claim the title of oldest continuously operated prisoner-run newspaper in the US.
Staff begin to transfer prisoners to a new facility under construction in what is now Bayport, just south of Stillwater.
Shakopee State Women’s Reformatory opens, and the Stillwater State Prison becomes a men’s facility.
Minnesota transfers responsibility for prisons from the Department of Public Welfare to a newly formed Department of Corrections as part of an “offensive against crime and delinquency.”
Clyde Bellecourt (White Earth Ojibwe) and Eddie Benton-Banai (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe) meet while incarcerated at the Stillwater prison and found the Indian Folklore Club, a precursor to the American Indian Movement (AIM).
Stillwater prison’s average annual population is 890, low enough to close a 200-cell block.
In response to a disturbance, prison staff put nine prisoners—five Black, three Native, and one white—in solitary confinement, strip them naked, fire tear gas, and leave them in cells for six days; the Department of Human Rights sues over the incident.
A court decides the Department of Human Rights does not have the power to challenge discrimination against prisoners.
Minnesota hires an ombudsman to monitor conditions and field prisoner concerns.
The Department of Corrections consolidates its prison industries into one statewide business called MINNCOR Industries.
The Minnesota legislature eliminates the office of the Ombudsman for Corrections.
The legislature votes to bring back the defunct ombudsman position, renamed the Office of the Ombuds for Corrections.
As of January 1, Stillwater holds 1529 prisoners, about a sixth of Minnesota’s total incarcerated population.
Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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