“It’s woke lunacy’: Retired corrections sergeant blasts Minnesota DOC policy changes, prison closure

Sgt. Shane Warnke Jr. (Ret.) joined Liz Collin on her podcast to discuss how even more men have been moved to Minnesota’s women’s prison, how he says taxpayers are footing the bill for men’s makeup, and essentially the end of the K-9 program.

Warnke Jr. retired as a sergeant at the Stillwater prison after nearly 20 years where he also served as a leader of the emergency response team at that facility.

Policy changes to DOC K-9 program

Last week, Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner Paul Schnell announced a “policy change” to the K-9 program. In November, the DOC’s 13 K-9 teams will be reduced to just “two single purpose drug detection K-9 teams to serve the agency systemwide.”

“It’s woke lunacy having worked in the prisons for nearly two decades, I know firsthand just how important the K-9s are every day within their duties,” Warnke said.

“The incarcerated individuals would know on any given day whether or not the dog was there and that would dictate how your shift might go and how they might conduct their activities on their end. So I’m going to call it out like it is. Somebody’s going to get hurt or killed. This is going to be a snowball effect. The commissioner of corrections is eroding this agency from within. Just every day it’s something different,” he added.

Alpha News asked the Department of Corrections about the change. In a statement, DOC said:

“Currently, the Department of Corrections has thirteen K-9 teams serving seven of the eleven facilities operated by the agency. Four of the thirteen K-9 teams currently operate out of the Stillwater facility and are being discontinued as part of the legislatively directed phased closure of that facility. By focusing resources on staffing correctional officer posts—positions that provide 24/7 coverage—we are ensuring that safety is maintained at all times, rather than relying on intermittent K-9 availability. When the phased closure of Stillwater was announced, the legislature directed, and the agency endeavored, to maintain as many correctional officer positions as possible. Given this goal of maintaining security positions, agency leadership was required to make difficult budget decisions, including alteration of the size, scope, and focus of the agency’s K-9 program.”

The closing of Stillwater Correctional Facility

Warnke also spoke about the closing of Stillwater prison. It’s being shuttered in phases and will permanently close in the summer of 2029.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking, you’re talking about people with … just a couple of years into their career up to people that are within striking distance of retirement that now have to totally change their lives around. This is going to affect their families, their local communities,” Warnke explained.

Republican members of the Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee are asking for a public hearing on the closure.

“They are in the process of scrubbing or changing custody level points to allow for, say, offender incarcerated person that was previously classified as a level four or five, they’re now going to be placing this caliber of criminal thinking within facilities such as Faribault and Lino Lakes. The staff collectively have not dealt with this level of criminal thinking as a collective whole,” Warnke said.

More men in women’s prison

Meanwhile, Alpha News has learned two more men have been transferred to Shakopee, which is Minnesota’s only women’s prison.

Nathan Jones is charged with felony assault for attacking a rider on a Metro Transit bus. Another male inmate, Tony Boos, is serving time for arson.

Collin asked Warnke Jr. if the Department of Corrections even cares about women at this point.

“I’d have to venture and say they don’t. You’re talking about women incarcerated within Shakopee that have more than likely all have experienced severe degrees of trauma throughout their lives. And prison is supposed to be a place of reform, rebuild, you know, lessening recidivism, helping people become their best selves. Now you’re placing this, you know, these trans people in the prisons and these women are feeling re-victimized every single day. It’s absolutely lunacy. It’s crazy. I don’t know how else to say it,” he said.

The recent developments at Shakopee stem from policy changes at the DOC, specifically a 10-page trans inmate policy issued in January 2023 and revised in April of last year.

Noticeable policy changes during Walz administration

Warnke says there has been a noticeable difference in the Department of Corrections since Gov. Tim Walz took office.

“When I first started, there were some trans inmates or women, or excuse me, offenders that, you know, identified as being gay and took on female qualities on their own fruition. As my career progressed and we’re, you know, towards the last part of my career which included the tenure of Commissioner Paul Schnell and Gov. Tim Walz, this stuff was just getting rammed down our throats and it got to the point where you know traditionally you do a lot of strip searches in prison. That’s how you maintain the safety and security of the facility,” Warnke said.

Warnke also explained how policy changes compromise security: “But it was like these inmates were able to play us because one day they could be a woman the next day that could be a guy and we had to bow down and cater that like we were in a Shakespeare play.”

 

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