The prison is architecturally designed into the side of a hill to accommodate 481 inmates on a site, which is connected by two corridors on separate levels. One of the corridors is used only for the staff, while the other corridor is used primarily for offenders and staff traffic, while the other of this site are securely fenced in, with a large courtyard and
baseball field in the center. The design places the cells on several underground levels. Inmate cells measure . Each cell contains a bed, table, toilet, and sink. The bed is a cement slab topped by a thin mattress. The toilet and sink are made of steel so they can't be broken. Each cell also has one rectangular window that's tall and thin. It is too narrow to escape through if the inmate could break the reinforced glass, and tests have proven it would take approximately twelve thousand
hacksaw blades to cut through the steel bars of the prison. Not only does the prison provide a courtyard with a baseball field, but also includes an administration building, a religious resource room, gymnasium, security control center, staffed training fitness area, warehouses, a loading dock, and indoor
firing range. The prison is composed of nine self-sustaining living units, referred to as complexes. The first six complexes each house 52 offenders and include shower facilities and a common area used for recreation and meals. Offenders in these complexes range from those serving segregation time, to those who are in education toward a
GED, or working full-time in the facility as cooks, janitors, painters, or workers in the institution's industry units. MCF-OPH is home to the Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissary program. Inmates who qualify for these work programs are employed to process and package commissary orders from the other state correctional facilities. Two of the three remaining complexes house the mental health unit (MHU) and the transitional care unit (TCU). The MHU and TCU both handle inmates from the entire Minnesota DOC who require the unique services of those units. The TCU serves inmates who need
intensive nursing care, such as postsurgical care, and also serves as a hospice. The MHU works with individuals who are in a mental health crisis or individuals who have been civilly committed as
mentally ill in addition to their criminal commitment. The ninth unit, completed in 2001, is the state's administrative control unit (ACU), sometimes referred to as "Super-Seg". It houses the most violent offenders in an environment nearly completely free of physical contact with staff. Many of the offenders in the ACU have attempted to assault prison staff, or have engaged in a deadly assault on another inmate. Each cell is a self-contained living unit that includes sink, toilet, and shower. Each cell is accessed through two sets of doors, creating a
sally port for each cell. Offenders are typically given access to an exercise room that is open to outside air for one hour each day. The MCF-OPH facility, together with the H Unit of
Oklahoma State Penitentiary in
McAlester, Oklahoma, was featured in a one-hour TV documentary titled "Maximum Security Prisons", produced by Alan Hall (
Beyond Productions) for the "On the Inside" series of the
Discovery Channel.
National Geographic has also produced an episode of ''
America's Hardest Prisons'' on the Oak Park Heights Facility. ==Security==