The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a petition against the state Department of Corrections April 15 to keep prisoners and staff at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake safe from the rapidly spreading COVID-19.

Filed on behalf of three inmates — Roger Foster, Kristopher Mehle and Adam Dennis Sanborn — and “all other similarly situated,” the petition asks for the release of the three prisoners and others in a similar situation to a safe location during COVID-19 pandemic because the state has failed to take reasonable measures to protect them.

“The ACL...