Target’s Role in Prosecutorial Harm and Mass Incarceration in Minneapolis and Hennepin County

June 30, 2025

|In Press Release, In the News, Community

|By E.

A Receipts Brief to Accompany the Open Letter to the National Baptist Convention

Prepared by frontline organizers in Minneapolis | June 26, 2025

1. Target Funded the Prosecutors Who Over-Policed Black Youth

For years, Target Corporation directly funded the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) under County Attorneys Amy Klobuchar and Mike Freeman. These funds were earmarked for “community prosecution” and “retail crime,” but disproportionately resulted in the criminalization of poor Black neighborhoods in Minneapolis.

At the same time, Target developed close relationships with Minneapolis Police (MPD) through surveillance partnerships like SafeZone, sharing private security footage, and helping fund downtown policing strategies that targeted Black youth and homeless people.

Bottom Line: Target used its wealth and power to demand criminal convictions, fund surveillance-heavy partnerships, and disproportionately criminalize Black communities. Target was not a passive donor. It helped design and promote these prosecutorial initiatives in partnership with local law enforcement.

2. Black Children Were Caught in the Crosshairs:

Target’s financial and strategic influence helped fuel a system that over-criminalized and incarcerated Black teens.

Three Known Cases of Harm

Myon Burrell

Arrested at age 16 in a high-profile case during Klobuchar’s term as County Attorney.
Convicted despite lack of physical evidence, with the case later deemed deeply flawed.• Sentence commuted in 2020 after public outcry, organizing, and investigative reporting by the Associated Press.
Myon served 18 years in prison and is now seeking full exoneration.

Mahdi Ali

Arrested at 15 years old, and tried as an adult—sentenced to life in prison.
Target’s influence extended to the trial, where a so-called forensic expert with ties to the company provided key testimony.
Mahdi’s trial was marred by unreliable evidence and public outcry over wrongful conviction.
A national campaign is underway to Free Mahdi Ali, now over a decade into a sentence for a crime he did not commit.

Marvin Haynes

Convicted at age 17 after a deeply flawed case; eyewitness recanted; no physical evidence.
Served 20 years in prison before his conviction was overturned in 2023.
Awarded financial compensation after full exoneration.

These three young Black men are not isolated examples—they are emblematic of a system that Target helped fund and shape.

Between the 1990s and early 2000s:

Prosecutorial practices in Hennepin County ramped up youth sentencing.
Black boys were tried as adults and subjected to life-altering punishments.
Surveillance and criminalization in downtown and North Minneapolis intensified.

From 1983 to 2018, Minnesota’s prison population grew by 306%, with Black residents incarcerated at 10× the rate of white residents.

3. The Political Payoff: From County Prosecutor to U.S. Senate

Amy Klobuchar’s aggressive prosecutorial record, bolstered by Target’s support, became a springboard for her political rise to the U.S. Senate. She built her reputation on being “tough on crime,” using cases like Myon Burrell’s to prove her credentials. It was not until public outcry that the flaws of her legacy were fully exposed.

Meanwhile, Black families and communities were left behind to deal with the consequences.

4. Target’s Alliance with MPD and Harsh Prosecutors

This is not a story of passive corporate philanthropy. This is a story of intentional influence over the justice system. Target helped fund and shape policing strategies in Minneapolis, including its controversial SafeZone program in downtown Minneapolis and surveillance partnerships with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD)—that same department that murdered George Floyd.

MPD has a well-documented history of:

Racial profiling
Excessive force
Illegal stops and searches
Abuses targeting Black youths and residents

Target’s partnership and financial investments legitimized and empowered this institution, even

as communities called for change.

Why This Matters Now

Target has never:

Apologized to the families impacted
Acknowledged its role in unjust prosecutions
Taken accountability for the harm it funded and enabled

Instead, it has pivoted to DEI rollbacks and political payoffs—attempting to buy back Black trust with a $300,000 donation to the National Baptist Convention. As frontline leaders, we are demanding accountability—not just for what Target promised in 2020, but for what it enabled long before. The National Baptist Convention, and all Black institutions, must reckon with the full weight of this truth before aligning with any corporation that has caused this level of racial harm.

This Is About More Than Retail

This is about corporate complicity in mass incarceration and the systemic targeting of Black youth. Target’s complicity in mass incarceration is not just bad PR—it is a civil and human rights crisis.