During the 1930's, most of the old prison's buildings were torn down to provide stone for public works projects.
In1941, the state sold the warden's house to the Washington County Historical Society and the two remaining prison buildings were sold to a dairy. The old warden's house is still there and is being used as a museum.
In 1953, there was a riot in Stillwater Prison. The inmates tore the place up. They were protesting conditions and rules. The riot was so loud that people living near the prison could hear the noise.
I found information that stated that during an incident in 1960, it took 150 guards with bayonets to get inmates back into their cells. Where they got all of those guards and all of those bayonets, I have no idea. Another time tear gas was needed to regain control of the prison.
Two televisions were put in each of the A and B cellblocks in May of 1965. The inmates were allowed to buy televisions for their cells by the time the early 1970's rolled around.
A work release program was instituted in 1967. Inmates that met specific guidelines were allowed to work at paid jobs outside of the prison. Others were allowed to participate in community vocational programs.
In 1970, the "twine factory was closed by the warden, primarily because it did not provide marketable vocational training for inmates."
Warden Jack Young prevented an escape by firing a shotgun at a cellblock where inmates were cutting bars with a stolen piece of machinery known as a "Cincinnati Grinder."
During this incident, three officers were taken hostage. Inmates tried to walk out wearing the officers' uniforms. These inmates were not successful. Not that this could not happen at some point, but during an uprising, this would be expected. Inmates gave up after listing grievances for a reporter.
Later, another disturbance was ended with the use of shotguns and tear gas.
In 1971, an inmate stabbed the warden several times. This got the stabber committed as mentally ill and dangerous. Why wasn't this inmate committed before he tried to kill the warden? It's because massive buildings would have to be built to house all of those guys that could be listed as mentally ill and dangerous. A lot more staff would need to be employed. Those people would require higher rates of pay than correction officers. Housing those committed would cost much more than housing them in prisons. The warden lived, but obviously the physical and mental scars remained.
In 1972, a program called Legal Aid to Minnesota Prisoners (LAMP) was created to help inmates with problems other than criminal in nature. The program was run by the state Public Defenders Office.
"The Ombudsman for Corrections was authorized by the state legislature as an independent state agency." This was the first program of its kind in the United States. There is a section later that explains this program.
In 1975, a murdered inmate was found in his cell. We find plenty of inmates that have been beaten, but rarely is anyone murdered. Suicide is the larger problem. I should say that we assume that they have been beaten, because most often they assure us that they just fell. From the inmate's statements of so many falling down, vertigo must be something a lot of inmates must catch upon entering prison. Our country's surgeon general should check into this problem, maybe not.
May 30, 1975, after a one hour riot, an inmate with his throat cut was found on the flag after being tossed off the third tier. Yes, he did die shortly thereafter.
In 1977, in order to establish more control of the prison, housing assignments, unannounced cell block searches, extended inmate work days and other restrictions were implemented at Stillwater. Truckloads of contraband were removed from cells.
Even with the higher security measures, four inmates escaped by sawing through the bars and getting over a fence. They were all caught. Two of them never got very far. One was able to turn his escape into a two day vacation. The other was able to party for five days before being found.
In 1980, sentencing guidelines were created. This established consistency within the system for like crimes. This way, those choosing to commit a crime could see what their sentence would be if they got caught. If you felt like taking a three year vacation from freedom, you could look up crimes that would get you three years and commit one of them. However, this system established a new type of parole system. If sentenced to three years, you would only have to do two thirds of your sentence and be paroled for the final year if you behaved in the slammer. If you wanted to do the full three years, you would have to be a bad boy, bad boy, what ya gonna do; go for three or two.
In 1982, the Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility opened. This was called a super max prison at the time. It was designed differently than any other prison. Being the first of its kind, people came from other countries to examine it and still do. This is now a common design for states and other countries to build.
Escapes are preventable if officers are alert and question anything that does not seem normal. It took more than one security breech from officers for two inmates to be able to escape in 1982. The inmates did like little kids would do. They hid in cardboard boxes, were loaded on a truck and driven out of the prison. No further escape attempts have been successful from Stillwater since then. Inmates have walked away from minimum security outside of the walls, but no one has escaped from within the prison walls.
In 1983, the nice young gentlemen residing in cells in the prison got a little rowdy. When that many people of that type are placed in one place, bad things can happen. In this case, the public had to bear the cost of replacing 900 windows.
In 1985, sex offenders became the largest group locked up in Minnesota prisons. There were 430 of them which was eighteen and a half percent of the total population. This caused the Department of Corrections to mount a huge effort to increase the number of programs for these smarmy characters.
In 1989, the legislature increased the amount of time criminals would be doing. Many sentencing guidelines were doubled. I don't know if this was to be a deterrent to committing crimes or if they wanted to keep these guys off the streets longer. It did create a need for more prisons.
In 1993, Stillwater's warden got the bright idea to create a controlled movement system. Guess what? I'm not being sarcastic. This was actually a bright idea. Instead of inmates being able to wander anywhere in the prison, groups were restricted to who could go where and when. Fewer numbers of inmates were allowed to be out of their cells and cellblocks at one time. This made it more difficult to be able to victimize other inmates. It also made it more difficult for groups to organize and create problems.
In 1995, Minnesota was the first in the nation to establish a restorative justice program with a full-time staff person. This has been a very successful program that allows victims and/or victims' families to interact with the criminal. This can create closure or healing for all involved. Criminals can put a face and feelings to the negativity that they caused.
In 1996, the city of Stillwater bought the site of the old prison for $845,000 to preserve it as a historical site.
In 1997, Minnesota's prison population reached over 5,000 inmates. The constant rise came from criminalizing more offences and increased length of sentences.
As of August 1, 1997, the state banned tobacco from being in their prisons, inmates and staff included. This was not popular. Tobacco became a highly sought after form of contraband and thus worth a lot of money. An old timer told me that before this policy went into effect, it was not possible to see from one end of a cellblock to the other because the smoke was so thick. Imagine the affects of that second hand smoke on those living or working in that foul air.
In 2002, Stillwater opened a new health services unit inside the main building. The old health services' building was separate from the main prison building. It had been built on a hill within the perimeter of the wall in the early 1900s. The old building was torn down and the hill was removed in order to make room for the new segregation unit.
On Tuesday September 3, 2002, fire destroyed the old prison's historic three story brick twine factory that had been built in 1890. Witnesses reported seeing three people running from the