An inmate sentenced to imprisonment is under the protection of the law, and an unauthorized injury to the inmate's person is punishable just as if the inmate were not convicted or sentenced. A conviction for a crime does not work a forfeiture of real or personal property or of any right or interest in property. Forfeitures in the nature of deodands, or in a case of suicide, or where a person flees from justice, are abolished.
Minn. Stat. § 631.471
(9939) RL s 4777; 1985 c 265 art 11 s 1; 1986 c 444