Good morning. It's a fresh week and here's your Capitol View.
Minnesota's prison population has dropped during the coronavirus outbreak. On March 1, there were 8,900 people in state prisons. As of late last week, there were 7,962
However, about 12 percent of the population at the Faribault state prison have tested positive for COVID-19. That's 206 of the 4,892 people incarcerated there, as of late last week. The latest to die from the prison was Leroy Wallace Bergstrom, 71, who passed away at a hospital Saturday and had tested positive for the coronavirus and was in critical condition for over a week. Previously, 43-year-old Adrian Raymaar Keys died after testing positive and another inmate remains hospitalized.
To prevent more people from getting sick and dying amid the pandemic, some groups are calling for more releases of inmates. The Decarcerate Minnesota Coalition — a group calling for prison reform and the release of more people being held in prisons, amid the pandemic — is planning a protest outside the Department of Corrections headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday. The coalition is calling for "a moratorium on parole officers’ use of technical violations to send people back to prison , and the DOC’s release of those currently serving time for technical violations — up to one-quarter of Minnesota prisoners." They're also calling on the department to release inmates with medical conditions, people who qualify for work release, and inmates with fewer than 90 days left of their sentences.
Turns out the coronavirus is slowing down the president's reelection campaigning. Via NPR: "A day after defending his right to hold campaign events in the midst of coronavirus case spikes, Vice President Mike Pence and the Trump campaign said Saturday that they are postponing two events he was to headline next week in Florida and Arizona. The states are two of the hardest hit in recent days, and health officials have encouraged people to avoid large in-person gatherings. The events have been postponed 'out of an abundance of caution,' two campaign officials told NPR."
Pence is still taking the campaign to three other states that have had major COVID-19 spikes. Again, NPR: "A White House official said that Pence still plans to travel next week to Texas, Florida and Arizona to meet with the state's governors and health teams. The U.S. hit a new single day record for new cases of coronavirus on Friday with more than 45,000 new cases reported. Those numbers were driven in part by Arizona, Texas and Florida, which continue setting new records."
