UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Criminology Internships

 

MN Correctional Facilities - Stillwater Internship

MCF - Stillwater
970 Pickett St., N.
Bayport, MN 55003
651-642-0329

Websites: http://www.doc.state.mn.us/
http://www.doc.state.mn.us/facilities/stillwater.htm

Person to contact if interested in internship at these agencies: www.doc.mn.gov then click on Employment




Interns indicate duties performed

  • Monitoring phones/video and gather intelligence for specific cases (i.e. smuggling, assault and law enforcement assistant cases), shadow special investigator in the field (various areas in the prison) (2006)

Students identified positive aspects of this placement

  • Everyone was very nice, answered all my questions and took the time to teach me. I learned a lot about things by asking questions. I also learned a lot during a special seminar titled "Anatomy of a Crime Scene." These types of meetings aren't mandatory, but they are very informative and I suggest attending them when possible. (2006)
  • Great superviors, positive for resume writing and future corrections jobs, great experience. (2005)
  • The comfortable and postitve work environment. (2004)
  • contact with offenders, very educated staff, and Stillwater has one of the best correctional education programs (2004)
  • An eye-opening experience to what prison-life is like. Learning hands-on what a textbook or lecture at school could not provide. (2004)
  • You learn that this is a whole different world inside the prison, learn interesting facts and way the prison works. (2003)
  • Working with a population of prisoners made it a different scene everyday. Work ws very interesting. I had access to inmate records which were fascinating to read through. I had a wonderful staff to work for and they taught me alot. (2001)

Students identified difficulties typical in this placement

  • Supervision is needed but will only be given if you ask! Be comfortable to ask questions and know that everyone is willing to take time to help. Also, be prepared to listen to phones. Phone monitoring is an important tool used by investigators, but can get boring at times.(2006)
  • Lack of exciting stuff happening makes for a boring time. (2005)
  • The only thing that was difficult about this internship was getting comfortable in a prison setting. You will have some kind of interaction with inmates but it really isn't that bad. (2004)
  • coming up with your own curriculum, teaching people at a wide variety of levels (2004)
  • Getting used to inmates, especially as a female at an all male institution. Also, being tossed in for 270 hours and having to learn an important job quickly. (2004)
  • Frustrating that we couldn't keep up with the caseload. It was also frustrating to learn of all the rule violations going on in the prison. (2001)