Medical & Mental Health in Minnesota (MN DOC)

Health care in Minnesota prisons

Medical and mental-health care in Minnesota prisons is provided under contract by Centurion Health, which has held the Minnesota DOC’s health-care contract since 2014. Centurion staffs medical, dental, and mental-health services across the state’s adult correctional facilities, working alongside the DOC.

Routine care begins at each prison’s on-site clinic, generally through a sick-call request submitted to the facility’s medical staff. An incarcerated person who needs medical, dental, or mental-health attention starts by submitting that request at the facility where they are held. Confirm the current sick-call procedure, any charges, and any exemptions with the facility’s health services staff, because details change.

Mental-health and specialty care

Mental-health services are part of the contracted health care delivered in Minnesota prisons, ranging from clinic-based care at individual facilities to more specialized services. Substance-use and other treatment programming is provided in addition to medical and mental-health care.

Higher-acuity, inpatient, and outside specialty care that cannot be delivered at a facility’s clinic is arranged through the prison’s health services unit. Confirm how a specific need is handled with the facility’s medical staff, because the arrangement depends on the type of care.

The grievance process

A health or treatment concern that cannot be resolved with the facility’s medical staff can be raised through the Minnesota DOC grievance process, the agency’s formal procedure for complaints. The procedure has internal review steps within the prison and the department. Confirm the current grievance steps and deadlines with the facility’s medical staff, because they change.

Independent oversight: the Office of the Ombuds for Corrections

Minnesota also has an independent Office of the Ombuds for Corrections, an office separate from the Minnesota DOC. It was re-established by the Legislature in 2019 and reopened in 2020, and it reviews complaints about conditions in Minnesota correctional facilities, including health-care concerns.

An incarcerated person or a family member can contact the office about a concern. It is independent of the DOC, so it is an additional avenue alongside the department’s own grievance process rather than a replacement for it. Details of what the office can review, and how to reach it, are on its website at mn.gov/obfc.

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Know Your Rights.