ST. PAUL (AP) — The Minnesota Legislature will consider sweeping changes meant to provide better protections and medical care to jail inmates.

The legislation follows an investigative series by KARE-TV that revealed lax oversight at Minnesota's jails despite dozens of deaths since 2015. Many of those cases saw inmates suffering needlessly after being denied basic medical care before they died.

In other cases, inmates killed themselves despite clear indications that they were suicidal.

Corrections Commissioners Paul Schnell acknowledges there have been failures in the system, and says his agency is setting a course to fix them.

The legislation will get its first hearing Friday.

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