The medical director for the state Department of Corrections told the Star Tribune prison medical staff failed to quarantine a prisoner with a history of leprosy who had visible lesions. The offender was held in the general population in prisons at St. Cloud and Rush city for nearly two months this spring, exposing prison staff and hundreds of inmates to the communicable disease.

Four puppies are on their way to becoming service dogs thanks to the efforts of a Twin Cities program and the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth. Through the program Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs, or PawPADs, inmates will take two years to train the puppies in to disability dogs to help diabetics and the physically handicapped.

Minnesota prisons are joining other states nationwide that are allowing inmates to receive emails. MPR reports that the emails, which began this week, are coordinated by Iowa-based Advanced Technologies Group, which sends the emails to prison mailrooms. The messages are then printed out by staff members and delivered along with regular mail.

A new law taking effect in Minnesota next week means gardens may be popping up in the state's medium security prisons next spring. Glencoe Republican Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen is behind what he calls a "tough-love" law for offenders. Maintained by inmates, the gardens will produce food that will go to feed minimum-security unit inmates and families who get food from local food shelves.

A new report suggests a Christian-based program is helping inmates leave prison and find housing and work. And a prison official tells MPR those benefits come at no cost to taxpayers. But some critics charge the program is taking advantage of vulnerable adults; others say it creates a separate class of inmates who get special benefits.

The Interact program aims to reduce the number of times sick residents are sent to a hospital by offering additional medical training to nursing home employees. In other markets, the program has cut avoidable hospitalizations by up to 20 percent.

It's estimated that more than 2,500 16 to 21 year olds are homeless on any given night in Minnesota. But the number of beds reserved for that age group in the state's emergency shelters is fewer than 80. One pastor describes the situation as hideous.