St. Cloud prison: Wall, intake area pose security concerns

Capt. Dean Weis places his hands in the cracks of the massive granite wall that surrounds the Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud to show how an offender could use them to climb to freedom.

The 93-year-old structure that surrounds the prison is a historical marvel, the longest continuous granite wall built with inmate labor, second only to the Great Wall of China. But it's starting to show its age, the St. Cloud Times reported.

The Department of Corrections says the wall needs tuckpointing -- a lot of it -- to replace the original mortar and repair the cracks that are forming.

Young people have tried climbing the wall to see if they could get in. Recently, an outsider climbed the wall and posted photos on YouTube, resulting in a trespassing charge.

"It's deteriorated to the point that it actually is starting to affect the security of the institution," said Bill Montgomery, the department's capital resource administrator for adult and juvenile facilities. "It's something that's getting worse every year, and we need to start attacking it."

The wall repairs are expected to cost about $14 million. The department is asking the Legislature for $4.4 million next year for the first phase.

The prison, which houses about 1,000 adult offenders, was the first stop Tuesday on a tour by members of the House capital investment committee, which will decide which public works projects to include in the 2016 bonding bill. The committee also stopped at St. Cloud State University and the nearby Mississippi River dam, and drove by Friedrich Park.

Repairing the perimeter wall actually ranks No. 5 on the Department of Corrections' list of priorities. Even higher is constructing a new intake area, warehouse, laundry and loading dock at the St. Cloud prison.

The St. Cloud prison is the intake facility for all offenders in the Minnesota correctional system. About 400 offenders are processed through the prison each month, said warden Collin Gau.

Each offender is given a full assessment in St. Cloud, including health, education, chemical dependency and other needs, before they are moved to an appropriate facility or assigned to stay in St. Cloud.

"We do this over and over and over, so it's a very busy place," Gau said.

In the crowded intake area, correctional officer Charles Thompson points to a group of handcuffed inmates standing in a glassed-in area awaiting for a bus to take them to another prison. Often the cells are completely full, he said.

"A lot of times, we're so full we have inmates sitting out here amongst us, because we have nowhere to put them," Thompson said.

Most of the offenders in intake are newly committed, so the department knows very little about them, Gau said.

"Thirty people that we know nothing about in the same cell is not a safe operation," he said.

The new intake area would be the second phase of the St. Cloud prison project. Construction on the $18 million first phase, which includes a new health services building, is expected to start early next year.

The department is asking for another $19 million for the second phase, which would also include a new loading dock to improve security.

Right now, trucks making deliveries can come right inside the gates, which isn't always a safe situation, Gau said. With a new loading dock, everything would be unloaded and screened before it came inside.

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At St. Cloud State, the committee toured Eastman Hall, which the university wants to turn into a student health center.

The 86-year-old building on the Mississippi River used to house physical education. Inside the stuffy brick walls, committee members saw light streaming into round-topped windows onto a basketball court and an empty pool lined with decorative tile.

St. Cloud State received $865,000 in bonding money in 2014 to design the renovation. It's asking for $18.5 million next year to complete it.

The project would combine student health services, counseling and recovery services into one building along with the academic health studies. As was done with the Integrated Science and Engineering Laboratory Facility, or ISELF, building, the university would look for outside partners to bring into the project.

Monica Devers, dean of the school of health and human services, told the committee that combining the programs into one building would be a "game changer for students" who would enhance their learning and better prepare them for the workforce.

Corie Beckermann, director of student health services, noted that health services is in Hill Hall, counseling services are in Stewart Hall and the recovery programs are in Atwood Memorial Center.

"We're all in different locations, but we work together daily," she said.

Windows that have been painted over will be reopened, and the renovation will take advantage of the building's spot overlooking the Mississippi River. Health services will have a whole floor, Beckermann said.

"It's going to be an appropriate space designed to be a modern medical clinic within a really cool historic building on the river," she said.

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In the 1960s, the city of St. Cloud bought the dam on the Mississippi River near St. Cloud State from Nothern States Power.

After building a new power house, the city put the dam into service in 1988. It now generates about 8 1/2 megawatts of energy, enough to power almost 10,000 homes every year.

The dam is one of more than 600 in Minnesota. The state owns 346 of those, and 289 are owned by local governments like St. Cloud. Most are more than 50 years old and require repairs.

The Department of Natural Resources is asking the Legislature for $10 million for repairs to six dams considered high hazard, including St. Cloud's.

A high-hazard dam isn't necessarily in imminent danger of failing, said Kent Lokkesmoe, director of capital investment for the DNR.

"It just means if it were to fail, there would be significant property damage or loss of life," he said.

The St. Cloud dam has wooden gates with chain links that fall at a certain pressure level, said Pat Shea, the city's public services director. If the gates fall -- often in the winter due to ice or debris -- an employee must go out on the dam using a safety wire for support.

If the project gets funded, a new automatic gate system would be installed.

"So when those gates go down, either based on an obstruction or ... to help us control the river flow a little bit, we're able to lower and raise gates automatically without having to send someone out," Shea said.