When people first enter a jail or prison, there a considerable likelihood they may be attempting to smuggle cell phones, weapons, drugs, or other banned items into the facility. For nearly a decade, the Department of Corrections, County Sheriff’s Association, and others have been working with the Legislature to make a change in law regarding who can administer a body scan.
This is the first of multiple bills that we were able to pass in my first term in office that have been worked on for quite some time.
This issue is extremely important to the Shakopee Prison Corrections Officers and workers. As Warden Beltz so delicately put it to me, “Women have more places to hide things, Brad.”
Further, this is incredibly important to the inmates at the Shakopee Prison. Most of the women there have suffered trauma of some sort during their life. Each time an inmate enters the prison, they need to be searched and this act can bring back trauma and not help them move forward to be a more productive Minnesotan.
We were able to work together with the Department of Health (this task was much larger than I expected) as well as Senators Ingebritsen and Limmer to get this important bill passed for our community.
House File 733 was signed by Governor Walz as part of the Health and Human Services bill in 2019. Thank you to the incredible staff at the Department of Corrections (esp. Warden Beltz and Gov Relations Safia Khan) and Department of Health!!
Thank you!!
Brad
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