News Release
JOHNSON PRESENTS BILL FOR HIGHER PENALTIES FOR CORRECTIONAL OFFICER ASSAULTS
ST. PAUL – Representative Brian Johnson presented a bill in the Corrections Division Wednesday to deter inmates from assaulting correctional officers. The bill, HF 1205, as amended, would require any inmate convicted of assaulting a correctional officer to serve their full sentence in prison. Current law allows an inmate to serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison and the final third is served under community supervision. The bill was laid over for future consideration. Rep. Johnson, Republican Lead on the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Division, released the following statement regarding the bill.
“If you assault a corrections officer as an inmate, you should be prepared to face consequences,” said Johnson. “Right now, there is effectively no penalty for assaulting an officer in prison. We need to make sure that inmates who are a threat to officers and others remain in prison for the duration of their sentence.”
There has been a large increase in assaults against correctional officers in recent years, with 156 assaults on correctional officers in 2019, and 104 in just the first six months of 2020.
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