Minnesota Correctional Facility – Shakopee

Minnesota's only women's prison, in Shakopee, Scott County — it holds all custody levels and serves as the statewide women's reception and intake point.

Overview

Minnesota Correctional Facility – Shakopee (MCF-Shakopee), on West Sixth Avenue in Shakopee, Scott County, is Minnesota’s only state prison for women. It holds women across all custody levels and is the statewide intake point for newly sentenced women, with an intake and release unit on site. The facility is southwest of the Twin Cities, in the southwest metro area.

What Makes MCF-Shakopee Different

• It is Minnesota’s only women’s prison. Women sentenced to the Minnesota DOC are held here, across all custody levels.
• It is the statewide women’s reception and intake point. Newly sentenced women enter the system through the intake and release unit at Shakopee, where they are assessed and classified.
• It serves the women’s Challenge Incarceration Program (CIP) track. The Minnesota DOC’s Challenge Incarceration Program — an intensive, phased program — includes a women’s track associated with Shakopee.

Visiting

The statewide MN DOC rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at MCF-Shakopee. The facility’s own arrangements:

The full approval process is in Visiting a Minnesota prison.

Getting There and Parking

The prison is on West Sixth Avenue in Shakopee, in Scott County southwest of the Twin Cities.

Distances are approximate, based on map routing. Visitor parking is on site.

Nearby Services

Shakopee and the surrounding southwest metro area have lodging, gas, and food. The nearest hospital emergency rooms are in the Shakopee and southwest Twin Cities area.

Mail

Minnesota does not deliver friends-and-family mail to the prison. Since November 1, 2024, the Minnesota DOC has personal mail processed off-site by a private vendor, TextBehind, which scans or photocopies each item and sends the copies to the facility (electronic delivery to the person’s tablet is also available for a fee). Mail sent directly to a Minnesota prison is returned to the sender.

Address personal mail this way:

First Name / Last Name, and OID number MCF-Shakopee, Minnesota (do not abbreviate Minnesota) P.O. Box 247 Phoenix, MD 21131

Items missing a first and last name or the OID number are rejected, and envelopes without complete information are discarded unopened. Mail between two incarcerated people, pen-pal mail, and photo orders also go to the TextBehind address.

Some mail still goes directly to the facility, not to TextBehind: legal mail; published materials, books, and subscription renewals; business mail from courts, counties, child support, and other government agencies; and vital documents such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, and IDs (TextBehind forwards these to the facility). Legal mail is sent to the facility’s own address, and incarcerated people use the facility address as the return address on outgoing legal mail.

Verify the current mailing rules and the facility’s address before sending anything.

Learn More

• Visiting a Minnesota prison — getting on the approved visitor list, scheduling, and what to expect at the visit.
• Sending mail — how the TextBehind scanning system works and how to address letters, photos, and legal mail.
• Phone & video — ViaPath phone calls and JPay Video Connect video visits.
• Sending money — depositing funds through JPay and where government or corporate checks go.
• Medical care — how health care is provided in Minnesota prisons and how to raise a concern.
• Transfers & intake — where people enter the system (men at MCF-St. Cloud, women at MCF-Shakopee) and how transfers work.