MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Corrections launched a pilot program this month to equip corrections officers with roughly 800 body-worn cameras inside three state prisons, as part of an effort that has been years in the making.

According to Commissioner Paul Schnell, officers in the Lino Lakes, Stillwater and Shakopee facilities are participating in the program, which was made possible by $1 million in annual funding approved by the state legislature in 2023 through a broader public safety spending measure.

"When we're talking about what happens in the confines of a correctional facility, body cameras can be really beneficial," Schnell said in an interview. "In either accountability, or in clearing an officer. And in law enforcement, I think it's more been the case that officers have been cleared than that the body cameras supported wrongdoing."

Schnell began exploring body-worn cameras shortly after Gov. Walz appointed him to the commissioner position in late 2018. At that time, the state prison system was under heavy scrutiny for officer safety, after the deaths of two corrections officers that year. First, Joseph Gomm was beaten and stabbed by an inmate in July 2018, and just two months later, Joseph Parise had a heart attack responding to an assault.

Also, various state reports found that body-worn cameras could improve transparency when inmates made allegations of misconduct, excessive use of force or sexual assault by prison staff. In 2022, for example, the Office of the Ombuds for Corrections concluded in a report that "officer worn body cameras should be prioritized."

"Given the number and severity of complaints alleging assault and harassment that the OBFC has received since re-opening in 2020, there's an overwhelming need to protect incarcerated people and staff," the state prison watchdog agency wrote. "Body worn cameras provide a tool that helps create transparency, accountability, and protection for Department of Corrections staff and population especially when other cameras are unavailable or do not get to the situation in time to record the incident."

Body-worn cameras are not utilized as widely in prisons as they are by general law enforcement agencies on the streets, but they're becoming more common in correctional settings. Beginning with the Atlanta Department of Corrections in 2016, several other agencies and states have started using body cameras inside jails and prisons. Minnesota corrections officials, for example, visited Missouri to learn more about how that state's body-worn camera program operated.

"A number of states have them going. We're just part of a growing trend, I think, for the use of body cameras in correctional settings," Schnell said. "We look forward to seeing what the outcomes are."

If the pilot program goes well, Schnell said the Minnesota DOC could expand the program statewide, which would require the agency to roughly double the amount of body cameras used in the pilot. That effort, he said, could be funded through the DOC's budget, perhaps by shifting some money away from funding for fixed cameras inside the facilities.

However, the body-camera pilot program has not been universally embraced, particularly by union leaders with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

When the legislature first considered the body-camera funding in 2023, the AFSCME Corrections Policy Committee opposed the measure.

"Our position was if the Legislature decided to fund body cameras, significant guardrails must be included," the organization wrote. "We will continue to advocate that the application of body-worn cameras be limited to circumstances such as cell extractions, inmate transports, and hospital coverage where existing, fixed-position camera coverage does not exist."

Commissioner Schnell said he understands those concerns but still thinks the body-worn cameras will be mutually beneficial.

"Many police officers do not want to do the job without body cameras," Schnell said. "I think, in the long-haul, that's going to be the case here."

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