Driving northwest on Highway 10 toward the fringes of St. Cloud, you see the foot-tall granite water tower first. With the gas stations and motels still in the distance, the century-old spire rises from the pine-specked fields. The aging granite fortress that is the Minnesota Correctional Facility—St. Cloud established lurks in its own shadow—a gothic edifice dropped on the landscape as if from the brain of Stephen King.
But not just any wall. This wall is a 1. Yet it had never occurred to us to skip work and drive up to take a look around. What could Minnesota, the star of the North, teach Washington about how to build a quality barrier in the Southwest? Something permanent, classy, and definitely imposing? The prison currently functions as the intake facility for all adult male inmates in Minnesota. But I get in the easy way: I call warden Shannon Reimann and, on a recent January morning, nearly a month into the partial government shutdown, she graciously shows me around.
So, in , they made the decision to have the offenders quarry the granite. It took those offenders 11 years, working mostly with hand tools, to fully enclose the plus-acre prison grounds. Four inmates managed to go over the wall in And, as the warden points out, it now needs some major tuckpointing.
But in person, from outside the prison, the century-old wall looks as formidable as ever. Not out of granite. Not in a Romanesque Revival style that evokes an Ivy League institution. And especially not surrounded by foot-high stone walls. Why not? So, how do we become a modern prison in a historical landmark? By encompassing those components within our perimeter. A sensor here. A camera there. After emerging from the sprawl of shop buildings and cell blocks, we make it to the grassy yard.
There, the enclosure opens to fields for baseball and football, and the three quarry ponds. Running along the inside perimeter of arguably the greatest American wall ever built is a wire fence. Key Enterprises LLC is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for mspmag. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards. Skip to main content. Photo courtesy of Department of Corrections.
