By Captain Nathan Bartz

Molly Freund has promoted to WOOC Lt. at MCF Rush City. She is assuming the role of 3rd Watch Commander. Molly brings valued knowledge and experience from multiple failities and DOC Work Classifications.

Welcome back to Rush City Lt. Freund!!

left to right: Captain Bartz, Lt. Feund, Capt. Rasmussen

By Amanda Kenowski

Mary Brooks is a CPT 4 with the Department of Corrections. She has been a state employee since July of 2017.

In October of 2023, Mary's husband Dan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As a result of this life-threatening illness, Mary's husband is currently undergoing treatment, and Mary has exhausted all sick and vacation leave accruals caring for him.

Mary has been approved for the Vacation Donation program and would greatly appreciate any donations that she would receive. Any state employee who accrues vacation may donate up to 40 hours per fiscal year, which will allow Mary to maintain her salary and health benefits. If you wish to donate vacation leave for Mary:

• Log in to Self Service Portal using your employee ID and password
• Select the Benefits tile > My Leave tile. From the menu on the left-hand side, select the arrow to access the Leave Donation
• Select the magnifying glass next to “Reserve Bank" and choose (recipient)'s name.
• Enter the number of hours you wish to donate.
• Select “Save"
• Refer to the Leave Donation Instructions as needed.
• Donation forms are also available from your Human Resources Office.

Thank you so much for your support and assistance.

By Lt. Jessica Johnson

My daughter, Ruby, has suffered from medical issues that have limited her ability to participate in sports throughout her life. Despite this, she found joy in participating in Choir during high school, although she was often frustrated by her limitations. Nevertheless, this did not diminish her passion for learning and her dedication to her academic pursuits. In her junior year of high school, we began applying for college scholarships, despite knowing that it would be challenging due to her lack of extracurricular activities. This was despite her receiving continuous academic awards and being a member of the National Honor Society.

During her first three years of college, she was unable to secure any scholarships to assist with her coursework to become an Elementary Education Teacher. While she did receive standard grants and loans, she also worked two jobs that she loved. One of her jobs is a work-study custodial position, in which she worked her way up to a lead position in her building. The other position is at a local Montessori School near UW River Falls, where she works as a Teacher's Aide.

Despite her academic achievements, including consistently making the Dean's List every semester, she struggled to obtain scholarships until now. Thanks to the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation (CPOF), she has been awarded a $500 scholarship, presented to her by AW Lathan Scott on 7/1/24. Ruby was surprised and elated, nearly bursting into tears at the award ceremony, and I could not be prouder. As a senior now, this scholarship will help reduce her out-of-pocket costs. As she stated, “Every little bit helps!"

I want to extend my gratitude to CPOF and MCF-Lino Lakes for recognizing my daughter and her accomplishments.

L to R: Lt. Jessican Johnson, Ruby Johnson, Associate Warden Lathan Scott

By Sarah Rykken

On July 12, 2024, MCF-St. Cloud Restorative Justice Representatives as well as staff and Incarcerated Individuals from the Peer Mentor group presented a donation to staff from Angel Reins Stable, a place of horses and healing.

Their mission is “To provide a safe, peaceful place for people and horses to experience kindness, hope and healing through equine assisted activities, as well as just relaxing at the stable", and serves veterans, survivors of human trafficking, young girls aged 13-17 and others suffering from PTSD, depression, anxiety, grief and more in addition to providing a loving home for rescue horses.

Due to fundraising efforts at MCF-St. Cloud, a donation of $500 was made!

left to right: CPT Jalen Arnold, CPD Cheyenne Drosgavold, CPT Eric Trudell, COII Kara Zdan, Teacher Ben Murphy, CM Laura Thielen, with three staff from Angel Reins Stable.

By Melissa Paquette

MCF-Faribault's Dakota Unit received four new boot camp dogs from Can-Do Canine on Thursday, 7/11. The dogs will be spend the next two weeks getting to know their handlers and the unit prior to starting their actual training on 7/25.

Dogs left to right: Neo, Iver, Teddy & Georgia

Be Melissa Paquette

Congratulations to Sarah Kreger-Dias Abeygunawardena on her promotion to the K1/K2 day shift Float Sergeant position effective 05-22-24.

Sarah started with the DOC at MCF-Faribault in 2016. She is involved in SORT as the Assistant, she is a Mentor, and a Yellow Ribbon Committee member. Sarah was previously a CIT member and Control Tactics / Self Defense Instructor. She has worked Squad, Visiting, Master Control, and Utility. She is also a Certified Emergency Medical Responder.

Congrats Sarah on your promotion!

Pictured left to right: Lt. Wadzinski & Sgt. Kreger-Dias Abeygunawardena

By Jacob McLellan

I am pleased to announce Tessa Nelson will be the new District Supervisor for the Center City District.

Tessa began her career in corrections starting in Colorado supervising youth at a residential treatment facility and later as a case manager in Boulder, CO. Tessa returned to MN and began working for 180 Degrees through a contract position with Ramsey County. In 2010, she was hired with Pine County Probation as a pre-trial agent and eventually was hired with MN DOC in 2013.

Tessa is a Motivational Interviewing trainer and MITI Coder and has been coaching others in EBP for over 10 years. Tessa brings with her a highly motivated attitude and desire for growing others. Tessa will officially start her duties on 7/24/2024.

Please help me welcome Tessa as our new District Supervisor!

By Captain Melissa Paquette

On June 23rd, DOC's assistance was requested from the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to help with sandbagging efforts in Waterville, MN due to extensive flooding. MCF-FRB Dakota minimum IPs and staff answered the call on June 24-25 by deploying 75 IPs each day to the location. In addition to the IPs, more than 30 staff assisted to make this happen, some working side by side with the IPs both days to provide much needed assistance to the community.

To say that staff and IPs knocked it out of the park would be an understatement! Food Services had 150 bag lunches made for the IPs each day. Central Transport staff not only provided transportation for staff/IPs both days but also assisted during the day and provided supervision. FRB's Safety Administrator ensured that orange t-shirts/vests/work gloves/sunglasses/sunscreen were provided to all IPs. Property staff ensured all IP workers were outfitted with work boots prior to leaving on the first day. Dakota Unit staff generated count sheets and face sheets each morning and also assisted with getting IPs on the buses each morning. Watch Commanders & Lieutenants assisted with communicating the plan out to staff, hired for staff coverage and organized/contacted SORT Team members. ICWC Crew Leaders, SORT Team, Minimum Case Manager, Minimum Lieutenant, Minimum Captain and K9 all provided onsite coverage/supervision throughout the event.

Due to the hard work and extreme heat on day one, I was fully anticipating that several IPs would elect to stay back on day two but that was not the case. We had more IP volunteers than were requested by SEOC ready and willing to serve the following day! At the completion of day one, we were able to drive the IPs around the area so they could have a firsthand look at the flooding devastation; this definitely gave them a better understanding of the important work they were doing.

I can't speak highly enough about the hard work and dedication that staff and IPs displayed during this time. The Emergency Management Team and volunteers onsite had many positive things to say about the entire group and expressed their appreciation for the assistance that DOC provided. We definitely worked together as one unified team and I'm so proud to have been a part of this emergency response. It was an amazing effort to witness!

Thank you to all of these staff that assisted in various ways: Josh Sterling, Ryan Hanson, Nicholas Duffy, Greg Heldt, James Grundman, Kevin Cory, Timothy Twite, Alex Bultman, Rich Cap, Sarah Kreger-Dias Abeygunawardena, Shawn Wegman, Nathan Wegman, Brad Connolly, Nicholas Cline, Tyson Taghon & K9, Joseph Ernste, Cody Hall, Brandon Thibodeau, Kurtis Crosby, William Deike, Ben Wheelock, Jesse Mowers, Mathieu Richer, Anthony Sunde, Benjamin Enerson, Joshua Kilanowski, Andy DuBois, Jacob Wilkemeyer, Paul Banon, Preston Burns, Jess Brandt and Amy Cyr.

By Anonymous

I want to shout out Officer Milinda Hanson. She has shown amazing leadership qualities and is a friendly face. She puts her best foot forward and is a very intellegent person. Everyone who has the chance, nay, the honor of working with her are very lucky to look up to a kind caring person. If new staff ever have any questions she is more then willing to help.

By John Kelly

MCF – Lino Lakes Visiting Staff recently received a thank you letter from a community volunteer for their guidance on the Visiting process. Visiting staff where extremely understanding, helpful, courteous, and friendly.

Day after day the Lino Lakes Visiting team goes above and beyond to assist visitors through the process and ensures everyone is educated on the visiting policies and procedures to ensure visits can take place in a safe and secure environment. As the community member stated, “they are a great group of professionals" and we all appreciate their hard work.