North Dakota

North Dakota’s prisons are run by the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (ND DOCR), a small system. The agency refers to the people in its custody as residents, and they are located through the ND DOCR Resident Lookup.

This section details the five prisons that hold sentenced adults: the North Dakota State Penitentiary (Bismarck), the flagship men’s facility and the statewide men’s reception point; the James River Correctional Center (Jamestown), a medium- and minimum-security men’s prison; the Missouri River Correctional Center (Bismarck), a minimum-security and community-custody men’s facility; the Heart River Correctional Center (Mandan), a minimum-security women’s facility; and the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center (New England), the state’s primary women’s prison and women’s intake point.

North Dakota does not use for-profit private prisons for its state institutions. The Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is the one exception to direct state operation: it is run under contract by the Southwest Multi-County Correction Center (SWMCCC), a public corrections authority owned by a group of southwestern North Dakota counties. A new, larger women’s prison — also to be named the Heart River Correctional Center — is under construction in Mandan and is scheduled to open in fall 2027; the state has said it will become the primary women’s facility and consolidate women now held at New England. Until it opens, the arrangements described here apply.

Several other facilities are part of the correctional system but are not individually covered here: the Bismarck Transition Center and other community and transitional programs (including those run by Centre, Inc.), and the Tompkins Rehabilitation and Corrections Center (a residential treatment facility in Jamestown). The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center in Mandan is a juvenile facility and is outside the scope of this guide.

Where a newly sentenced person enters depends on sex. Men are received at the North Dakota State Penitentiary, where the reception unit handles orientation and assessment before classification. Women are received at the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, which has its own orientation unit.

North Dakota has no death penalty — capital punishment was abolished in 1973, and the last execution in the state was in 1905. No North Dakota prison holds a death row.

A few features shape how families stay in touch. Incoming personal mail is scanned off-site through the Securus Digital Mail Center and delivered as a digital copy to the resident’s Securus tablet, called the “player” (legal mail, agency correspondence, and publications still go to the facility). Phones, video visits, and electronic messaging run through Securus, and money is added to a resident’s account through JPay. Health care begins with screening at intake; the specific provider and any co-pay are best confirmed with the facility.

Use the guides below for the statewide rules, or go straight to a specific facility.