Prison detention. About a hundred inmates refuse to return to their cells

A prison near Minneapolis, Minnesota, was put on lockdown Saturday afternoon, as nearly 100 inmates refused to return to their cells.

Crisis team members were sent to the scene to negotiate with the detainees, BBC News reported.

According to preliminary information from the English media, their protest is related to the conditions they face in the Minnesota Correctional Facility.

In the midst of a heatwave, staff shortages meant that inmates would remain confined to their cells for several hours, even though they were not air-conditioned.

According to the institution’s staff union, AFSME Council 5, staff shortages will be a major problem at this prison.

Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell told CNN that the inmates were in no way violent during their protest.

“They would sit at tables and play cards and talk to each other,” Paul Schnell says.

The tactical intervention unit was deployed “as a precaution,” according to a prison spokesman.

In total, about 1,200 people are detained in this prison.