Warden Outlines Bonding Needs at St. Cloud Correctional Facility

ST. CLOUD -- Governor Dayton is recommending bonding money to finish a renovation project underway at the St. Cloud prison and at the same time, start a new one.

The Department of Corrections is once again asking for $19,000,000 to renovate the inmate intake area and loading dock. Warden Collin Gau says as the state's new prisoner intake facility, they need more room and better security measures...

Our current intake area is extremely small.  We process-in roughly 400 offenders a month and correspondingly transfer out 400.  They all go through that small intake area. There's one large holding cell.  The new intake would be significantly larger, it would separate incoming from outgoing and would have multiple holding cells.

Work on a new health services area is expected to be completed sometime this summer. The prison received $18,000,000 in the last bonding bill for that portion of the project which was considered the first phase.

Gau says the governor also included $4,400,000 in his bonding proposal to pay for a portion of fixing up the prison perimeter wall. Gau says it was built back in the early 1900's and has developed significant cracks over the years.  He says the total pricetag will be about $14,000,000 to complete it.  Gau anticipates going back to the legislature in future years for the remaining funding.