On Thursday, Senator David Osmek (R-Mound) presented SF 519 in the Senate’s Committee on Transportation. The legislation reforms the Department of Public Safety’s responsibilities when prisoners are eligible for release by providing critical information and services to help with their reintegration, decrease recidivism and ultimately save Minnesota taxpayers money.
“When inmates are released from prison, a lot of the success depends on their own drive to seek out services and programs that will allow them to continue their rehabilitation process,” Senator Osmek said. “The legislation proposed today reexamines Minnesota’s current exit process and works with our Department of Corrections to supply the basic information we can and ensure folks are starting on the right foot.”
“We want to decrease our recidivism rate,” Senator Osmek continued, “and we want to ensure that after spending time in prison, our inmates learn how to turn the corner in their lives so they can reintegrate into the community and pay off their social debt.”
With Senator Osmek’s reform, the Department of Corrections must provide inmates:
(1) A copy of the inmate’s unofficial criminal history compiled by the department and marked as unofficial
(2) information on how to obtain the inmate’s full official criminal history from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
(3) general information describing the laws and processes for obtaining an expungement of the inmate’s criminal record
(4) general information on the inmate’s right to vote
(5) current information on local career workforce centers in the county in which the inmate will reside and, upon the inmate’s request, other counties
(6) a record of the programs that the inmate completed while in prison
(7) an accounting of any court-ordered payments, fines, and fees owed by the inmate upon release
(8) Information on how to obtain a Social Security card
(9) a medical discharge summary
(10) information on how to obtain a complete copy of the inmate’s medical record
(11) general information on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits
Additionally, the legislation requires that the Department of Corrections offer the inmate assistance to apply for medical assistance or MinnesotaCare. Upon release, the Commissioner will also provide a one-month supply of non-narcotic medications to inmates that they had currently been receiving in prison.
The reform also requires the Commissioner of Corrections to develop and implement a homelessness mitigation plan for individuals released from prison, to decrease another problem commonly faced by former inmates.