The Minnesota Department of Corrections' Search for Individuals and Fugitives page carries the locator, a search of public information about individuals committed to the Commissioner of Corrections who are still under the department's jurisdiction, in prison or released and still under supervision. The same page links Minnesota Haven for custody status notifications, the public registrant search, where the department posts the information law enforcement decides to disclose on people required to register under Minnesota Statutes 243.166 or 243.167 and subject to notification under 244.052 or 253D.32, within 48 hours of the authorization, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's search of non compliant predatory registrants, and the active fugitives list, people serving the last third of a sentence on supervision in the community who have allegedly violated their release terms and are evading authorities, with a 24 hour tip line at 651-603-0026 and Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
The locator is where a family gets the Offender ID, the OID, which the department's handbook for families, Staying Connected and Staying Strong of August 2025, says is asked for at every turn: letters, deposits, messages and visits. The county jails are not the department's, and a person held before trial is found through the Minnesota county pages; the department's own visiting information pages answered only a bot check when read on October 14, 2026, so the rules below come from the handbook and the pages that did answer.
- Search: the DOC locator on the search page, for anyone committed to the Commissioner and still in prison or on supervision, with the OID; the fugitives list for release violators and the registrant search sit beside it.
- Alerts: Minnesota Haven, the department's own notification system, by email or U.S. mail on transfers, custody changes, release and escape, registered by form to victimassistance.doc@state.mn.us or 1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 200, Saint Paul, MN 55108, with questions at 1-800-657-3830.
- Mail and calls: a letter addressed to the full name and OID, the facility name and the word Minnesota spelled out, at P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131, where it is opened and scanned and a copy delivered; calls go out only, at no charge to the family, monitored and recorded, with no three way or forwarded calls.
- Money and visits: JPay for deposits, messages and 30 second videograms, with canteen spending capped at $170 a week; visits after a Visiting Privilege Application and a background check, in person or on JPay video for a fee, and none on the eleven listed holidays.
Written by SearchSystems.net from Minnesota's own systems: the Minnesota Department of Corrections Search for Individuals and Fugitives page, the department's Notification of Custody Status and Release page, the department's Family and Visitors page, the department's handbook Staying Connected and Staying Strong, August 2025, the Commissioner's memo on the phased closure of MCF-Stillwater, May 20, 2025, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The facilities and where a person starts
Nearly every adult man enters at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at St. Cloud, the close custody intake facility at 2305 Minnesota Boulevard SE, (320) 240-3000, for case planning and orientation before a transfer set by classification, programming, education and health needs; men under 18 certified as adults enter at Lino Lakes, which with Faribault and Rush City also receives men revoked from supervised release; and every adult woman enters and stays at Shakopee, the all security level women's facility at 1010 West Sixth Avenue, (952) 496-4440.
The handbook lists the rest with addresses and numbers: Faribault, minimum and medium, 1101 Linden Lane, (507) 334-0700; Lino Lakes, minimum and medium, 7525 Fourth Avenue, (651) 717-6100; Moose Lake, medium, 1000 Lakeshore Drive, (218) 485-5000; Oak Park Heights, the maximum facility, 5329 Osgood Avenue North, Stillwater, (651) 779-1400; Red Wing, the state's juvenile residential facility that also holds adult men at minimum custody, 1079 Highway 292, (651) 267-3600; Rush City, close custody, 7600 525th Street, (320) 358-0400; Stillwater, 970 Pickett Street North, Bayport, (651) 779-2700; and the Challenge Incarceration Program at Togo, 62741 County Road 551, (218) 376-7878, at Willow River, 86032 County Highway 61, (218) 485-2400, and at Shakopee.
Each person carries a custody classification, the amount of supervision required, that sets the placement and can change with behavior, discipline and treatment under policy 202.100. The Commissioner's memo of May 20, 2025 explains that the Legislature and the Governor agreed to close MCF-Stillwater over four years for its age, condition and maintenance needs, with complete closure expected by June 30, 2029, the population moved gradually to the other nine male facilities with the usual transfer notices, and no early releases because of it.
The central office is at 1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 200, St. Paul, (651) 361-7200, and the Office of the Ombuds for Corrections, independent of the department, takes concerns from families.
Mail, email and calls
A letter must carry the incarcerated person's full name and DOC OID number, the facility name and the word Minnesota, not abbreviated, and goes first to a service outside the state: the handbook's example is John Doe OID# 000000, MCF-St. Cloud, Minnesota, P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131. The mail is opened and scanned and a copy provided to the person. Email goes through the department's own instructions or through TextBehind, which sends letters, photos and greeting cards electronically.
No one can call an incarcerated person, and a call to a facility is not transferred; the person makes outgoing calls at set times, there is no charge for those calls, three way calls and forwarding are not allowed, and every call and video conversation is monitored or recorded, as the person is told in writing and by a notice at each telephone. In a death, serious illness or injury, the family calls the facility and leaves a message that staff verify and pass on.
Money, canteen and property
Money goes through JPay, an electronic transfer service, always with the person's name, OID and facility; JPay also carries electronic messages and 30 second videograms. Incarcerated people need no money for daily needs, since the facility provides food, clothing and medical care, but each facility has a canteen for snacks, televisions, radios, hot pots and lamps, with a spending limit as of July 2025 of $170 a week in the adult facilities and $50 for juveniles at Red Wing, excluding televisions, typewriters, media and the restitution surcharge, and with different limits in restrictive housing; trading, giving or selling items between people is forbidden.
At admission a person may keep one pair of prescription glasses, a plain wedding band, dentures, approved prosthetics, an address book without a metal spiral, twenty photographs no larger than 8 by 10, legal paperwork and a limited number of spiritual items, while money, identification, Social Security cards, passports, birth certificates and tribal IDs are held in the file, with a county check or voucher preferred for money.
Visiting: the application, the holidays and the rules
A visitor is first added to the person's approved list by completing a Visiting Privilege Application, honestly, since false information can bar visits at every facility for a time; a background check is part of it, a criminal record or probation does not mean automatic denial, approval comes before any visit, and the visitor brings the same ID listed on the application. Each facility keeps its own schedule, and no visits happen on New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday after, or Christmas Day. A contact visit takes place in the visiting area in assigned seats, with contact limited to one brief kiss on the cheek, a hug and a handshake at the start and end; a non contact visit is through a barrier by telephone or camera, scheduled 24 hours ahead, and is the only kind for people in restrictive housing or anyone placed on non contact status for a rule violation or a failed metal detector.
Video visits are offered at every facility for a fee through JPay, scheduled only when the kiosk in the person's living unit is free, recorded and monitored, with no refund when a visit is ended for misconduct. Children under 18 are escorted by a parent or legal guardian, are added to the visitor list first, and come with another adult only on a signed and notarized authorization from the parents; some facilities have a playroom or allow paper and crayons, and the visiting office answers before the visit.
Nothing comes into the visiting area but necessary items, with lockers in the lobby, some needing a quarter the staff can lend; weapons, ammunition, pepper spray, alcohol or drugs, tobacco and nicotine, letters, lighters, cell phones, cameras and recording devices are illegal to bring in; everyone passes a metal detector or a wand, may be pat searched on reasonable suspicion or a failed detector, may refuse and lose the visit or take a non contact one, and dresses under a code staff apply with a final say, with a chance to change clothes and return. Schedule and rule changes go out by email or text to subscribers.
Haven: notices of custody and release
Minnesota Haven, formerly Minnesota CHOICE, is the department's own system for victims and community members under Minnesota Statutes section 611A.06, with confidential registration by a form emailed to victimassistance.doc@state.mn.us or mailed to the Victim Assistance Program, 1450 Energy Park Drive, Suite 200, Saint Paul, MN 55108. A registrant chooses notices of incarceration custody changes, transfers, custody reductions, interstate transfer requests and caseworker changes; release notices, the 60 day notice, conditional release, final release, reentry input, agent assignment and expiration of sentence; early release programs, the Challenge Incarceration Program, the Conditional Release Program, the Institution Community Work Crew and work release; supervision changes; and escape and apprehension.
Notices arrive by email or U.S. mail, never by phone except for an escape, so phone numbers must stay current with Victim Services at 1-800-657-3830. A community member who receives unwanted contact from an incarcerated person may request a no contact directive by fax at 612-473-5007, by email, by mail or through the caseworker. Victims of predatory offenses may receive enhanced notification of a registrant's location from law enforcement under the Community Notification Act, section 244.052, and victims of qualified domestic violence related offenses may be told the city and ZIP code of the person's residence at release under section 611A.06, subdivision 3a.
Reading a Minnesota result
A locator record means commitment to the Commissioner, in a state facility or on supervised release, and yields the OID that every letter, deposit and application needs; a person missing from it is in a county jail, discharged, or past the department's jurisdiction. The Maryland address takes the letters, JPay takes the money and the video visits, the facility sets the visiting days around the eleven closed holidays, and Haven, not the locator, sends word when the status changes.
Questions about finding an inmate in Minnesota
Related Minnesota records
The locator is one of the Minnesota records this site covers: the Minnesota arrest records guide explains what a booking makes public, the court records guide covers Minnesota Court Records Online, the sex offender registry guide covers the predatory offender search, and the Minnesota county pages list each sheriff and jail.