State Correctional Institution (Prison) Records Request

Index information provided may include:

• Full Name
• Identification numbers
• County from which received
• Admission Date
• Discharge Date
• Charge convicted under (type of crime)
• Length of Sentence

*** Important: Please read! ***

Ordering the Full Case File search requires information from the index(es), including the inmate ID number. 

If you do not have the index information, please select Index Search under the Correctional Institution Research Service options menu above. When you have the results from the Index Search, then you will be able to order the Case File Search.

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

*** Important: Please read! ***

Ordering the Extended Search requires information from the index(es), including the inmate ID number. 

If you do not have the index information, please select Index Search under the Correctional Institution Research Service options menu above. When you have the results from the Index Search, then you will be able to order the Extended Search.

The records available for an Extended Search 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.

If you do not know the exact dates of birth, death, admission or discharge, please submit your best guesses. The date fields accept numbers or text, so please include any information that you have including broad estimates. The Additional Information box at the very bottom of this form can also be used to add information that you think may be relevant.

If any of the date fields are left blank, we may cancel and refund your order. Library researchers need as much information as possible in searching for your individual.

You have indicated that you are requesting your own state hospital record. Because protecting individual privacy is extremely important to us, records for living individuals are virtually always closed to public research. Please complete your order and staff will contact you for information about proving your identity.

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

Due to staffing and resource changes, this research service will be unavailable during the Summer of 2025.  We expect the service to return in the Fall--please check back with us then.

Older records (before 1900) may be available in person at the Library. If you have a legal need for a record–a court date, benefits claim, etc.,-please email reference@mnhs.org and we will do our best to help.