Severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings issued for Twin Cities metro area

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The Minnesota Sheriff's Association and Advanced Correctional Healthcare are suing the state over a new law that requires jail staffers to provide inmates with any drugs they have prescriptions for.

Minnesota Sheriff's Association Executive Director Jim Stuart said the law requires health care providers to give inmates medicine even if they think it could worsen their health.

"Doctors aren't even allowed to be doctors,” said Stuart. “They are forced to kind of decide if they want to follow this new law or embrace their legal and ethical obligations that they swore to an oath as doctors."

Supporters of the law say it's needed to ensure inmates are provided with the medicine they need. They cite situations where, they say, inmates were denied medicine prescribed to control chronic health issues.

“The need for this reform became obvious as we heard from many people who have suffered serious consequences from being denied their prescribed heart and blood pressure medications, anti-seizure medications, HIV drugs, mental health medications and sometimes even insulin,” read a statement from Communities United Against Police Brutality, an organization that supported the new law.

But the sheriff's association and other opponents of the law want a judge to impose a temporary restraining order until a court hears their concerns. He said the law is not in keeping with good inmate health care.

“The original prescribing doctor might have said, you know, medication X is what's best for you, but was that 2 weeks ago? Was that 6 months ago? Did that original prescribing doctor know that, on this date and time when this person got incarcerated, that they are also addicted to an illegal narcotic that dramatically and adversely affects that medication?” said Stuart.

Crime, Law and Justice

Health

Politics and Government News

2025 Minnesota legislative session

NewsPartners

Homepage

Mark Zdechlik

Author

The law’s opponents say the law requires health care providers to give inmates medicine even if they think it could worsen their health. Supporters say it's needed to ensure inmates are provided with the medicine they need.

Hennepin County Public Safety Facility in Minneapolis

Lawsuit challenges new Minnesota law requiring prescription drugs for county jail inmates

Go Deeper.

Like this?