DOC: Otter Tail County Jail withheld meals from inmate for over 50 hours

State officials have penalized the Otter Tail County Jail and ordered it to rehouse its inmates after officers allegedly withheld meals from an inmate for over 50 hours.

A report filed by Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) Inspector General Gregory Huska says the department has put the jail’s license on conditional status and moved it to a Class I license, meaning it can only hold inmates for up to 72 hours, except for weekends and holidays.

The order comes after DOC was notified of potential staff misconduct on Feb. 20. However, because the jail reported it and had already started an internal investigation that included an outside law firm, DOC said it would wait to review the conduct until a complaint was filed. That happened at the end of the month.

According to facility video and that complaint, an inmate at the jail was denied meals for more than 50 hours as punishment for throwing and smearing feces on his cell door. The inspector general’s report notes that withholding food as punishment is “strictly prohibited.”

The report states that jail staff documented on the morning of Feb. 10, “We will not be offering (the inmate) food until he cleans his cell because it is not safe for staff to open any access points to his cell.” They also told that to the inmate, who refused to clean his cell and was denied lunch. That again happened for dinner, breakfast the next morning, another lunch and dinner period and the following breakfast as well.

At one point, jail staff wrote in reports that the inmate started “ingesting his own feces,” and the inmate later added that he was forced to drink toilet water and his urine because his water was also shut off. The jail reports contradicted that account, stating that the inmate was given bottled water in place of one meal and milk and juice in place of the breakfasts.

Despite witnessing that, the inspector general wrote that jail staff never called a medical provider or health authority about the inmate’s condition, and the inmate never met with nursing staff until three days after the punishment started.

As part of the order, the jail had to submit a plan to move its jail population earlier this week and has to actually rehouse all inmates by the end of the business day on Thursday. It also won’t be allowed to house inmates on behalf of another jurisdiction while on conditional status. DOC is also requiring the jail to conduct a full review and submit a plan to ensure a similar incident never happens again, conduct more training with staff and undergo random DOC facility visits.

DOC is scheduled to conduct a full inspection of the jail this fall, and the report states that the facility won’t be able to have its Class III license status restored until after that time.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has reached out to the county for comment on the order. When reached for comment, a DOC spokesperson said the order speaks for itself and noted that the department doesn’t operate county jails.