Prison Reform Survey of Minnesota State Prison at Stillwater, 1979, Gathering Inmate Input on Safety, Racial Tension, Sexual Assault, and Labor

Minnesota Correction Facility Stillwater David A. Ward

First Edition

Stillwater prison reform report draft, 1979, documenting institutional violence, inmate safety, racial tension, drug use, sexual assault, and correctional labor at the Minnesota State Prison in Stillwater. The prison came under scrutiny in the mid-1970s for failing to address institutional problems, which lead to unrest and a near-riot narrowly avoided in 1980. Directed by David A. Ward at the University of Minnesota, the study gathered 633 inmate questionnaires from a prison population of 1,032 and 281 completed staff survey forms, preserving a large contemporaneous data set on conditions inside a state prison during the national corrections crisis of the late 1970s.

Ward, David A., Herman Milligan II, Constance Osterban, and Anthony Calabrese. Technical Report: Preliminary Draft. Stillwater Prison, 1979. A Survey of Inmate and Staff Views of Personal Safety and Other Aspects of Living and Working in the Minnesota State Prison. Minneapolis: Stillwater Transition Study, Department of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Minnesota, May 1980. Preliminary draft. 340 pages, plus 65 page appendix, typed on single sided sheets and bound in orange report covers with exposed spine marked "Stillwater Study (Pre-Draft) '80 D.R. Ward." The opening notice states that the report was supplied "as a professional courtesy for use in designing a research project" and "must not be cited or quoted" because it did not represent Ward's final interpretations. Contents include inmate and staff opinion surveys on classification, veterans status, inmate organizations, opposition to staff, inmate solidarity, isolation, alienation, perceived racism, drug use, homosexuality, sexual assault and rape, informing, strong arming, safety, discipline, women officers, adjustment problems, job satisfaction, racial tension, minority correctional officers, staff perceptions of the inmate experience, conjugal visits, and opinions about the new prison. The report reproduces Warden Frank Wood's June 4, 1979 memorandum to "All MSP Inmates," advising that the University of Minnesota wanted "to get a picture of the experiences of inmates here in 1979 to compare to the experience of inmates several years from now when the new High Security Facility has been opened."

The report was conceived as the "before" phase of the Stillwater Transition Study, after Minnesota correctional investigations in 1974 and 1976 and legislative funding for a new high security institution. Its advisory network included Alvin Bronstein of the ACLU National Prison Project, Milton Rector of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, William Nagel of the American Foundation's Institute of Corrections, and David Ward of the University of Minnesota. The conclusion puts Stillwater in contrast with the wider prison crisis of 1980, citing Walpole, Atlanta, Marion, Texas, Maine, Indiana, South Dakota, California, and the New Mexico prison riot, then argues that Stillwater inmates reported fewer extreme complaints about food, sanitation, medical care, staff brutality, and wages than inmates in several other state systems, while still registering serious concerns about safety, abuse, drug activity, race, staff confidence, and institutional control. Clean typed sheets, holding tightly, with light handling to covers and exposed spine. Overall very good condition. A state corrections research report preserving inmate and staff testimony at the moment Minnesota attempted to redesign maximum security imprisonment through survey data, prison reform planning, and unusually direct inquiry into violence, race, sex, drugs, and authority inside Stillwater.

Item #23581

Price: $585.00