News Bulletin: Minnesota sheriffs want Corrections commissioner out

The statewide organization led by Steele County Sheriff Lon Thiele wants a top corrections official removed from office.

At its recent winter conference, the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association issued a “Vote of No Confidence” in Paul Schnell, who serves as the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. The MSA passed a resolution calling upon Schnell to either resign from office or be removed by Gov. Tim Walz.

“He has failed to work with any of us,” Thiele said speaking on behalf of Minnesota’s 87 sheriffs. “It all falls on deaf ears. We have tried to work with them but nothing changes.”

At issue with MSA is the interpretations of 2911 rules and the DOC inspection process, which it claims have become burdensome and disconnected from operational realities for safe and effective jail management.

“Every sheriff who voted made an independent decision based on their own facts,” Thiele said, noting 79 counties in Minnesota operate jails.

Thiele said the DOC’s arbitrary and capricious decisions are consistently creating hardships for those community members who are incarcerated, the legal community, law enforcement and especially the sheriff’s offices who must anticipate which erratic action the DOC will take against their county.

The MSA says the DOC rulings are inconsistent, and they are unable to back them up with any written law, rule or even protocol. Sadly, their leadership has limited experience in corrections, and still chooses to be unwilling to work with the elected sheriffs of Minnesota. The DOC’s arbitrary decisions have cost local taxpayers millions of dollars as local government must keep rapidly adapting to their unrealistic, and subjective demands.

MSA leadership has had numerous meetings and exchanges with Schnell and members of his leadership team in hopes of finding positive resolutions. Instead, there has been a lack of follow-through, empty promises and misinformation. The Commissioner’s failure to lead, or hold his leadership accountable, played a significant role in this action which resulted in an overwhelming statewide vote to support the resolution.

Thiele took over as president of MSA on Dec. 9.