THE MINNESOTA OMBUDSMAN PROVIDES AN EXTERNAL GRIEVANCE MECHANISM WHICH IS USED WHEN CORRECTIONS' INTERNAL PROCEDURES FAIL TO FORMULATE AND/OR IMPLEMENT REASONABLE STANDARDS, RULES, REGULATIONS, AND GOALS. THE ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF THE OMBUDSMAN OFFICE ARE BRIEFLY OUTLINED IN THIS REPORT. SPECIFIC STEPS INVOLVED IN THE HANDLING OF COMPLAINTS ARE ALSO DETAILED. THE REPORT NOTES THAT COMPLAINTS GENERALLY FALL INTO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: PAROLE, MEDICAL, LEGAL, PLACEMENT, PROPERTY, PROGRAM, RACIAL, STAFF, RULES, AND THREATS. EXAMPLES OF EACH TYPE OF COMPLAINT ARE PROVIDED, ALONG WITH A SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION OF THE METHOD USED TO HANDLE EACH TYPE OF COMPLAINT. STATISTICS ARE INCLUDED ON COMPLAINTS HANDLED, CASELOADS, TYPES OF COMPLAINTS, TYPES OF COMPLAINT RESOLUTIONS, REFERRALS, ORIGINS OF COMPLAINTS, AND TIME TAKEN TO RESOLVE COMPLAINTS.