Minnesota Inmate Search

Minnesota's jail and prison systems are spread between federal, state, and county institutions. Unlike many other states, Minnesota does not host any for-profit prisons and has reported an incarcerated population of zero for more than a decade.

The state's only privately owned prison is the Prairie Correctional Facility, which closed its doors in 2010 and has remained vacant ever since.

Minnesota has four Federal-level prisons in Sandstone, Waseca, Duluth, and Rochester. These complexes house primarily low or minimum-security convicts, with one dedicated to female inmates.

Minnesota has eleven state prisons with a population of just over 8,100. The state budgets roughly $630 million per year toward these institutions. Additionally, despite being divided into 87 counties, Minnesota only maintains 82 county jails.

Minnesota has a relatively high incarceration rate at 323 per 100,00 people or roughly 17,500 total prison population. Federal, state, and county prisons house about 90 percent of incarcerated persons, with the rest split between juvenile detention and involuntary commitment.

The primary reasons for incarceration in Minnesota are the usual suspects, including drug-related offenses, violent crimes, and property damage. Minnesota also has strict probation and parole policies that lead to re-incarceration.

Minnesota Inmate SearchPrison in Minnesota
Info

According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, the state's correctional system includes 11 state prisons, 82 county jails, and 4 federal prisons. The system houses approximately 8,100 state inmates with a total prison population of 17,500, and an incarceration rate of 323 per 100,000 residents. The state has no for-profit prisons and maintains records for 15 years after sentence completion.

Minnesota Department Corrections Inmate Search

The Minnesota Department of Corrections oversees the state's correctional facilities and rehabilitation programs and supervises released offenders. These tasks require meticulous upkeep of inmate information, including time served, behavioral incidents, physical descriptions, and much more.

This data is available through the Department of Corrections, which allows searching for incarcerated people and individuals required to register publicly after release. These services allow citizens and victims to update themselves on a convict's status anytime.

Interested parties will find links for all search engines on the department's website. They contain information regarding any individual committed to the Commissioner of Corrections, whether they are currently incarcerated or under supervision.

Inmates can be found via their full name or the MNDOC Offender ID.

User

Find Inmate by Name

Searching by name is the most intuitive method for finding an inmate in the system. However, if the subject has a common name like John Smith, you may need to filter the results by including a middle name.

Searchers can also shorten the fields when unsure about the inmate's name's spelling. The results will return every entry that matches the search's criteria. This means that searches for the last name "Jacob" will also return results for "Jacobson."

User

Find Inmate by Number

The Minnesota Department of Corrections assigns Offender IDs to every individual. This is the most surefire method for locating an inmate in the system. You can find this ID by contacting the Department of Corrections or the holding facility.

What Information is Contained in a Minnesota Inmate Record?

Minnesota inmate records provide personal information on incarcerated individuals, such as age, sex, race, and full name. However, they also cover when inmates finish their sentences or are released with supervision. This information tracks and monitors potential threats to society even after their release.

Additionally, inmate records provide data for criminal justice research. They include details on the inmate's name, age, race, sex, holding facility, and sentencing. These facts maintain transparency in the criminal justice system to check for biases and inform policy development.

For citizens, the most pertinent information in inmate records is when these people are reintegrated back into society. An inmate's release date is a projection for when their prison sentence ends. This date may change based on behavior or their eligibility for parole.

A past release date indicates the inmate has left the facility on full release or parole. Some results may show an "Unknown" release date. This designation is reserved for people going through processes with an indeterminate end date, such as an ongoing criminal trial.

Minnesota Inmate Records by Counties

County jails serve a separate purpose from state or federal prisons. They are responsible for holding individuals awaiting trial or inmates with brief sentences of less than a year. These lower-level offenders are not processed through the Department of Corrections, nor are their records centrally managed.

Most Minnesota county Sherrif Departments maintain an online search system, frequently called a "Jail Roster Search." These are searchable based on criteria like received date, released date, arresting officer, custody status, and the inmate's name.

Are Incarceration Records Public Information in Minnesota?

Minnesota prison and incarceration records are part of public records and are accessible to anyone willing to search. The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA) is a state-specific public information act.

Minnesota maintains the records for fifteen years after the inmate serves their sentence. All information regarding the conviction, sentence, and probation placement is available through public searches for this period.

Some information, such as medical and psychological records, may be under restricted access. These records typically appear during the trial process and are federally protected under HIPAA privacy laws.

Federal Prisons in Minnesota

Federal prisons in Minnesota are not managed by the state's Department of Corrections but are overseen by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

Federal prisons hold offenders who've explicitly violated federal law rather than state law. These offenses typically involve extensive white-collar crimes like large-scale embezzlement or international drug trafficking.

Minnesota has four federal incarceration complexes. Three are prisons, and the last is designated as a prison camp.

The federal prisons in Minnesota are either low or minimum-security, meaning there is a relatively low guard-to-inmate ratio and fewer security functions than in other federal institutions.

The table below lists the federal prisons in Minnesota alongside their capacity, security level, and location:

LocationSecurity LevelPopulation
SandstoneLow1,175 inmates
WasecaLow819 inmates
DuluthMinimum726 inmates
RochesterAdministrative - Medical784 inmates

Frequently Asked Questions about Inmate Records

Interested parties can send a formal public records request to the Minnesota Department of Corrections via their website or mail. The request must include the inmate's full name or MNDOC Offender ID.

You can find state inmate information on the Minnesota Department of Corrections' website using the inmate's full name or MNDOC Offender ID. There are links for currently incarcerated people and those required to register publicly after serving time.

County inmate records can be found by calling the arresting sheriff's office. However, many counties provide searchable databases on their websites for this information.

Minnesota maintains inmate records for up to fifteen years after the completion of their sentence. To locate older inmate records, contact the Department of Corrections or search through the state archives.

Prisons will typically inform family members of an inmate's death, but the Minnesota Vital Records Department holds the records. Paper death certificates can be obtained through the offices of the inmate's last registered county or verified via the state health department's website .

Changes in inmate records are typically published within a few days of an event, such as a release or transfer. However, these updates may take longer due to administrative delays or problems with the inmate's condition.

Non-incarcerated people can send inmates money through the JPAY service. Money must be sent as money orders or cashier's checks and sent with this form .