2006 Minnesota Statutes

241.01 CREATION OF DEPARTMENT.
    Subdivision 1. Commissioner. The Department of Corrections is created under the control
and supervision of the commissioner of corrections which office is established. The commissioner
of corrections shall be selected without regard to political affiliation and shall have wide and
successful administrative experience in correctional programs embodying rehabilitative concepts.
The commissioner shall be appointed by the governor under the provisions of section 15.06.
    Subd. 2. Divisions; deputies. The commissioner of corrections may appoint and employ no
more than two deputy commissioners. The commissioner may also appoint a personal secretary,
who shall serve at the commissioner's pleasure in the unclassified civil service.
    Subd. 3.[Repealed, 1975 c 304 s 15]
    Subd. 3a. Commissioner, powers and duties. The commissioner of corrections has the
following powers and duties:
(a) To accept persons committed to the commissioner by the courts of this state for care,
custody, and rehabilitation.
(b) To determine the place of confinement of committed persons in a correctional facility or
other facility of the Department of Corrections and to prescribe reasonable conditions and rules
for their employment, conduct, instruction, and discipline within or outside the facility. Inmates
shall not exercise custodial functions or have authority over other inmates. Inmates may serve
on the board of directors or hold an executive position subordinate to correctional staff in any
corporation, private industry or educational program located on the grounds of, or conducted
within, a state correctional facility with written permission from the chief executive officer of
the facility.
(c) To administer the money and property of the department.
(d) To administer, maintain, and inspect all state correctional facilities.
(e) To transfer authorized positions and personnel between state correctional facilities as
necessary to properly staff facilities and programs.
(f) To utilize state correctional facilities in the manner deemed to be most efficient and
beneficial to accomplish the purposes of this section, but not to close the Minnesota Correctional
Facility-Stillwater or the Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud without legislative approval.
The commissioner may place juveniles and adults at the same state minimum security correctional
facilities, if there is total separation of and no regular contact between juveniles and adults, except
contact incidental to admission, classification, and mental and physical health care.
(g) To organize the department and employ personnel the commissioner deems necessary to
discharge the functions of the department, including a chief executive officer for each facility
under the commissioner's control who shall serve in the unclassified civil service and may, under
the provisions of section 43A.33, be removed only for cause.
(h) To define the duties of these employees and to delegate to them any of the commissioner's
powers, duties and responsibilities, subject to the commissioner's control and the conditions the
commissioner prescribes.
(i) To annually develop a comprehensive set of goals and objectives designed to clearly
establish the priorities of the Department of Corrections. This report shall be submitted to
the governor commencing January 1, 1976. The commissioner may establish ad hoc advisory
committees.
    Subd. 3b. Mission; efficiency; legislative report, recommendations. It is part of the
department's mission that within the department's resources the commissioner shall endeavor to:
(1) prevent the waste or unnecessary spending of public money;
(2) use innovative fiscal and human resource practices to manage the state's resources and
operate the department as efficiently as possible;
(3) coordinate the department's activities wherever appropriate with the activities of other
governmental agencies;
(4) use technology where appropriate to increase agency productivity, improve service to the
public, increase public access to information about government, and increase public participation
in the business of government;
(5) utilize constructive and cooperative labor-management practices to the extent otherwise
required by chapters 43A and 179A;
(6) report to the legislature on the performance of agency operations and the accomplishment
of agency goals in the agency's biennial budget according to section 16A.10, subdivision 1; and
(7) recommend to the legislature appropriate changes in law necessary to carry out the
mission and improve the performance of the department.
    Subd. 4. Bond and oath of commissioner. Before entering upon the duties of office, the
commissioner of corrections shall take and subscribe an oath and give a bond to the state of
Minnesota, to be approved by the governor and filed with the secretary of state, in the sum of
$25,000, conditioned for the faithful performance of the commissioner's duties.
    Subd. 5. Training program. For the maintenance of adequate standards of operation
in discharging the functions of the department, obtaining suitable candidates for positions for
which there is a scarcity of qualified applicants, and the development of more effective treatment
programs directed toward the correction and rehabilitation of persons found delinquent or guilty
of crimes, and of more effective delinquency prevention the commissioner of corrections shall
establish a training program including but not limited to in-service, preservice, internship and
scholarship programs, and an operational research program. Within the limits of appropriations
available, the commissioner may provide educational stipends or tuition reimbursement in such
amounts and upon such terms and conditions as may be determined jointly by the commissioner
of employee relations. Within the limits of appropriations therefor the commissioner shall
establish and provide personnel, facilities and equipment for research and study to evaluate the
effectiveness of correctional treatment in camps, facilities, probation and parole investigation
and supervision and delinquency prevention.
The commissioner may provide training to public or private agencies or organizations and
may require the participating agencies or organizations to pay all or part of the costs of the
training. All sums of money received pursuant to the agreements shall not cancel until the end of
the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in which the funds were received. The funds
are available for use by the commissioner during that period and are appropriated annually to the
commissioner of corrections for the purposes of this subdivision.
    Subd. 5a. Acceptance of gifts, grants and subsidies; purposes. For the purposes of
subdivision 5 and to discharge the functions of the department through the establishment
of additional facilities and services to persons committed to the commissioner's care the
commissioner may, subject to the provisions of section 15.43, accept and expend on behalf of the
state, gifts, grants and subsidies from any lawful source; all moneys and securities so received
shall be deposited in the state treasury subject to the order of the commissioner. From the fund to
which such receipts are credited there is hereby appropriated annually to the commissioner of
corrections such gifts, grants and subsidies as are received under the provisions of this subdivision.
    Subd. 6. Corrections; uncompensated and voluntary services; expenses. To assist in the
discharge of the functions of the Corrections Department the commissioner of corrections shall
have authority to accept uncompensated and voluntary services and to enter into contracts or
agreements with private or public agencies or persons for such uncompensated and voluntary
services as the commissioner may deem practicable. Persons rendering voluntary uncompensated
services as herein authorized may be reimbursed for travel expenses paid or incurred in the
performance of such official duties as may be assigned them at the same rate per mile as state
employees. It is the purpose of this subdivision to provide travel expenses only to those volunteers
who would otherwise be unable to afford to perform volunteer services.
    Subd. 7. Use of facilities by outside agencies. The commissioner of corrections may
authorize and permit public or private social service, educational, or rehabilitation agencies or
organizations, and their clients; or lawyers, insurance companies, or others; to use the facilities,
staff, and other resources of correctional facilities under the commissioner's control and may
require the participating agencies or organizations to pay all or part of the costs thereof. All sums
of money received pursuant to the agreements herein authorized shall not cancel until the end
of the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in which the funds were received. The
funds are available for use by the commissioner during that period, and are hereby appropriated
annually to the commissioner of corrections for the purposes of this subdivision.
The commissioner may provide meals for staff and visitors for efficiency of operation and
may require the participants to pay all or part of the costs of the meals. All sums of money
received under this provision are appropriated to the commissioner and shall not cancel until the
end of the fiscal year immediately following the fiscal year in which the funds were received.
    Subd. 8.[Repealed, 1981 c 192 s 21]
    Subd. 9. Leases for correctional facility property. Money collected as rent under section
16B.24, subdivision 5, for state property at any of the correctional facilities administered by
the commissioner of corrections is appropriated to the commissioner and is dedicated to the
correctional facility from which it is generated. Any balance remaining at the end of the fiscal
year shall not cancel and is available until expended.
    Subd. 10. Purchasing for prescription drugs. In accordance with section 241.021,
subdivision 4 , the commissioner may contract with a separate entity to purchase prescription drugs
for persons confined in institutions under the control of the commissioner. Local governments
may participate in this purchasing pool in order to purchase prescription drugs for those persons
confined in local correctional facilities in which the local government has responsibility for
providing health care. If any county participates, the commissioner shall appoint a county
representative to any committee convened by the commissioner for the purpose of establishing a
drug formulary to be used for state and local correctional facilities.
History: 1959 c 263 s 1; 1961 c 465 s 1; 1963 c 492 s 1; 1965 c 45 s 11,12; 1969 c 283 s
1,2; 1969 c 496 s 1; 1969 c 1129 art 8 s 5; 1971 c 657 s 1; 1973 c 82 s 1; 1973 c 94 s 1,2;
1973 c 500 s 1; 1973 c 507 s 45; 1973 c 654 s 15; 1975 c 304 s 1,2; 1975 c 434 s 26; 1976 c
63 s 1; 1977 c 305 s 28,29; 1979 c 102 s 13; 1980 c 617 s 47; 1982 c 527 s 1; 1983 c 264 s 1;
1Sp1985 c 9 art 2 s 25; 1986 c 444; 1991 c 238 art 1 s 11; 1993 c 146 art 2 s 12; 1995 c 248
art 11 s 17; 1997 c 7 art 2 s 30; 1997 c 239 art 9 s 7,8; 1998 c 366 s 63; 1998 c 367 art 9 s 2,3;
1999 c 126 s 3; 1Sp2005 c 4 art 5 s 3