Minnesota

Minnesota’s prisons are run by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MN DOC). The agency uses person-first language and refers to those in its care as incarcerated people, each identified by an OID number; they are located through the Minnesota DOC Offender Locator.

This section details ten adult correctional facilities, all state-operated (Minnesota has not used private prisons in over a decade) and all named “Minnesota Correctional Facility,” or MCF, followed by their location. They are MCF-Oak Park Heights, the state’s only maximum-security (Level 5) prison; MCF-Stillwater (in Bayport), a large close-security men’s prison; MCF-Faribault, the largest by population; MCF-St. Cloud, the statewide men’s intake facility; MCF-Rush City; MCF-Lino Lakes; MCF-Moose Lake; MCF-Shakopee, the state’s only women’s prison; and two minimum-security Challenge Incarceration Program (“boot camp”) sites, MCF-Willow River and MCF-Togo. MCF-Red Wing is primarily a juvenile facility and is not covered here.

Two facilities are sometimes confused with the prison system but are run by a different agency: the Minnesota Sex Offender Program at Moose Lake and St. Peter is a civil-commitment program operated by the Department of Human Services, not the DOC.

Where a newly sentenced person enters depends on sex. Men are received at MCF-St. Cloud, the statewide intake facility, which assigns a custody level before placement. Women are received at MCF-Shakopee, the only women’s prison, which has its own intake unit.

Minnesota has no death penalty — capital punishment was abolished in 1911, and no Minnesota prison holds a death row.

A few features shape how families stay in touch. Incoming personal mail does not go to the prison — since November 1, 2024, Minnesota routes it to an off-site vendor, TextBehind, which scans each item and sends a copy to the facility (or, for a fee, to the person’s tablet); legal mail, publications, and official documents still go to the facility. Phones and tablets run through ViaPath, while messaging, video visits, and money deposits run through JPay — a split between two vendors. Health care is provided under contract by Centurion. Independent oversight comes from the Office of the Ombuds for Corrections, a body separate from the DOC.

Use the guides below for the statewide rules, or go straight to a specific facility.