State Correctional Institution (Prison) Records Request
State Correctional Institution (Prison) Records Request
For this research service, Library Staff will search for one person in one institution's records.
State Correctional Institution (Prison) Records Requests can take 60 business days or more to complete.
Extended Search (includes Case File): $40.00
Turnaround: Research is usually completed and sent within 60 business days.
- Adults
- Stillwater State Prison (opened 1854, also called Bayport or MN State Prison)
- St. Cloud State Prison (opened 1887, also called MN State Reformatory for Men)
- Shakopee State Reformatory for Women (opened 1919)
- Juveniles
- Red Wing State Training School for Boys (opened 1868)
- Red Wing State Training School for Girls (opened 1898; in 1911 girls at the School were transferred to the Sauk Centre Home School for Girls)
- Sauk Centre Home School for Girls (opened 1903; most records restricted for 100 years)
Index Search
Information provided may include the following:
- Full Name
- Identification numbers
- County from which received
- Admission Date
- Discharge Date
- Charge convicted under (type of crime)
- Length of Sentence
Case Files vary in contents, size, and detail, but many include:
- Administrative paperwork documenting a person’s incarceration, parole, and discharge
- Correspondence with relatives, lawyers, etc.
- Record of work, discipline, medical care, and other activities
- Parole reports
- Photographs
Extended Records Search
The records available for an Extended Search are only available for Stillwater State Correctional Institution and St. Cloud State Prison. They vary greatly by institution and date. They all include the Case File and may also include:
Stillwater
-
- Commitment Papers, 1880-1978
- Inmate Medical Case Files, 1900-1972
- Photographs, 1895 - 1970
- Transcripts of trials of inmates, 1901-1972. (relatively few trial transcripts exist and they were usually produced for a court appeal, request for a pardon, or request for early parole)
- Parole record books, 1892-1920
St. Cloud
-
- Inmate Photographs, 1896-1978 (very sparse, many images not present)
- Parole Records, 1897-1915
- Trial transcripts, 1891-1970.
- Inmate medical records, 1889-1923.
Restrictions on access: Inmate records contain private information about individuals and access to many of them is restricted.
Inmate records are generally restricted for 75 years from the date of the last entry in the record or file. Under specific circumstances, information in the files may be subject to longer and more strict restrictions.
If additional permission and/or paperwork is required for your specific order, staff will contact you about next steps. In some cases, if restricted information is present, it will be clearly redacted. However, if the item is fully restricted, staff will contact you about next steps. Individuals have the right to review their own correctional records in a way that ensures that the privacy interests of third parties mentioned in the records are not affected.
Questions? Email: reference@mnhs.org
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