Neighbors Cite Concerns With Fence at Shakopee Women's Prison

In warmer weather, Shakopee homeowners Brent and Jennifer Weaving sometimes pass the time by watching their neighbors play softball. They don’t have to go far to do it.

The field is near their home on the 700 block of Adams Street South, and the players are some of the 560 prisoners at Minnesota’s only correctional facility for women.

Although there is no fence between the Weavers and the prisoners, the Weavers would like to keep it that way.

“If a fence was there, I don’t think we would have bought it,” Brent Weaver said about the home he purchased in 2007. Weaver was speaking during a recent meeting hosted by prison officials who want to wrap a new fence around the prison.

Several other homeowners at the meeting echoed Weaving’s sentiments.

"It’s not the fence, it's the perception (it creates) of a dangerous facility," said homeowner Fred Steffen. He and others said the fence could hurt property values.

But Gail Haering, a realtor with , said last week it would be hard to say what a fence would do to area home values. Haering said it’s possible a fence could affect home values on a level similar to a home on a busy street, but because homes in the area aren't what she called upper-end, buyers expect to weigh those kinds of pros and cons.

“It’s a very attractive facility. If (the fence is) some ugly thing, it could affect property values,” she said. “My personal opinion is that people outside the community (looking to buy) might want a fence, but locals might well say, just leave well enough alone.”

Commissioner of Corrections Tom Roy agreed with some homeowners that the prison's location in a residential neighborhood is "terrible" and, if starting from scratch, he wouldn't build a prison there. He also said the state isn't planning to build additional prisons anytime in the foreseeable future and that a fence would help everyone deal with the reality of the situation. 

"These are not nice people and that’s the way it is," Roy said, alluding to any thought that female offenders are less dangerous than their male counterparts. "If we tore down the (prison) wall in Stillwater, (those neighbors) would go crazy." 

Prison officials also said they've come up with a preliminary 12-foot tall fence design that will enhance the look of the neighborhood. It would cost about $5.4 million to build, and last week it got a vote of confidence when Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton included it in his bonding bill. If the legislature approves the bill with the fence included, it would likely take at least 18 months to construct, prison officials said.

One neighbor who isn’t speaking against a fence is Principal Dave Orlowsky. The school for those in grades K-5 sits across from the prison at 1001 Adams Street.

While Orlowsky offered no official position about the fence, he said he liked the preliminary design and that the prison has been a good neighbor in his eight years as principal.

“If they think they need it, I trust them,” he said.