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MINNEAPOLIS 鈥� Prison reformers want Minnesota to end its use of solitary confinement and improve conditions for inmates separated from the rest of the prison population. The commissioner overseeing the state鈥檚 prisons and jails said the issue is more complicated.

A Senate bill, and its House counterpart, would ban solitary confinement and mandate better conditions for those in segregated housing. Segregated housing is used to isolate a prisoner from the general population in response to misbehavior or safety concerns or while an investigation is being conducted.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, Minnesota鈥檚 prisoners were placed in solitary confinement over 10,000 times, according to the 2023 DOC restrictive housing report.

In 2016, the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) reduced the maximum length of time a prisoner could be in solitary confinement from two years to 90 days. The DOC reversed course in 2019 and increased the maximum allowable stay in solitary confinement from 90 to 360 days.

The change came a few weeks after the Minnesota Legislature passed a law governing some parts of solitary confinement 鈥� including the implementation of mental health screenings, living conditions with decreased lighting during evening hours and mandatory reporting of any inmate segregated for more than 30 days.

DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said some prisoners are in solitary confinement 鈥� referred to as restricted housing in Minnesota 鈥� longer than 360 days if the prisoner reoffends, has fear of returning to integrated housing or has issues reintegrating with the general prison population. Schnell said Derek Chauvin, convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020, was placed in segregated housing to protect him from any prison violence, he added.

While the maximum number of days a prisoner could be in solitary has gone up and down, the lowest figure of 90 days falls short of the 15-day maximum outlined by the United Nations official standards for prisoners, commonly known as the 鈥淣elson Mandela Rules.鈥�

Chief author of SF207 Clare Oumou Verbeten, DFL-St. Paul, said the DOC needs to reevaluate its use of solitary confinement.

鈥淚 think the discretion that they still have to use (solitary confinement) is a little too wide,鈥� Oumou Verbeten said. 鈥淭he risks and again the impact to individuals who experience this is just so great that what we're starting with is a ban.鈥�

Contributed / Minnesota Legislature

Schnell said he agreed that punitive punishments like solitary confinement have not been an 鈥渆ffective鈥� solution in the long term and the goal is to use it only in the most 鈥渓imited of circumstances.鈥� He said that the DOC is looking into a more incentives-based approach to prison management to lessen the use of solitary confinement.

Instead of banning solitary confinement, Schnell said he hopes the Legislature will help the DOC by funding mental health services for prisoners and supporting the DOC鈥檚 push toward creating honors units in prisons. These honor units, similar to policies in Norway, would be unique sections of the prisons for prisoners with good behavior who would be given more freedom, flexibility and movement 鈥� like letting them prepare their own food 鈥� to better prepare them to reintegrate into society.

The bill also places regulations around segregated housing, most of which are currently required by the DOC. Regulations in the bill include providing thermal clothing to inmates in segregated housing if they do not have any, and guaranteeing access to a mirror, clock and calendar to retain a sense of time and prevent distortion.

Sue Abderholden, Minnesota National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) executive director, said in a committee meeting in 2019 that inmates placed in solitary confinement were more likely to suffer from mental illness. Of those placed in solitary confinement prior to the 2019 law鈥檚 passage, around 14% were later recommended for state-ordered mental health treatment, according to figures Abderholden presented at the time.

鈥淓ven by this narrow measure, it鈥檚 clear that inmates living with a mental illness were disproportionately subject to solitary confinement,鈥� Abderholden said in the committee.

Abderholden said NAMI would agree with the general language of SF207.

Schnell attributed the continued reliance on solitary confinement to struggles shifting toward an incentives-based model and a handful of prisoners who don鈥檛 want to leave solitary.

鈥淚ncentives work for many, but we continue to struggle with the small number of individuals who engage in the vast majority of disciplinary incidents,鈥� Schnell said in a statement via email. 鈥淚n addition, there is a solid core of incarcerated people who will not exit the restrictive housing setting. These people will engage in serious disciplinary conduct for the sole purpose of remaining in restrictive housing.鈥�

The over 10,000 solitary confinement placements between July 2022 and June 2023 went to around 5,200 inmates, according to the 2023 DOC restrictive housing report.

Minnesota is not the only state struggling to move away from solitary. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts passed restrictions on solitary confinement but have faced pushback from their state鈥檚 department of corrections.

In Massachusetts, the state department of corrections created Secure Adjustment Units to isolate prisoners for 21 hours, one hour short of being defined as solitary confinement, according to

While a few states have outright bans on solitary confinement, around half of them limit or ban solitary confinement for juveniles. Minnesota currently does not.

Despite a desire to move away from solitary confinement, Schnell said banning the practice would hurt Minnesota鈥檚 prison system.

鈥淎 statutory ban on the use of restrictive housing would be unwise and unsafe,鈥� Schnell said via email. 鈥淲hile we believe we can reduce the use of restrictive housing through the use of other evidence-based interventions and the centralization of facility disciplinary processes. That said, there are times that individual and facility safety considerations demand restrictive housing placement.鈥�

The bill is awaiting a hearing in committees in both chambers.