Minimum, medium, and special management (women) · Women's Prison (contract-operated, SWMCCC) · ND DOCR

Dakota Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center

New England, Hettinger County, North Dakota

Visiting schedules change without notice. Always call before traveling.

Call Visiting Office: 701-579-5100 Info last verified: June 2026

North Dakota's primary women's prison, in New England, Hettinger County — minimum, medium, and special-management custody, and the women's intake point. Operated under contract by the Southwest Multi-County Correction Center (SWMCCC).

Statewide rules that apply at ND DOCR prisons

These rules are set by ND DOCR and apply at every unit. The full list — including all permitted and prohibited items and the approval process — is in Visiting in North Dakota.

Dress code

No clothing with obscene language or gang, drug, or alcohol references; no visible undergarments; skirts must reach at least mid-calf; closed-toe shoes are required (Crocs are not allowed); and clothing cannot resemble what residents wear.
Each facility may turn away a visitor who is dressed out of code, so confirm the specific facility's rules before traveling.

ID: Every visitor must apply and be approved before visiting — submit the visitor application (online or on the printable form) to the facility; processing can take about 15 business days, and names are checked against state and local law-enforcement records. Official photo identification is required for everyone 16 and older.
What to bring: Bring only what the facility allows — most personal items must be left locked in your vehicle. A small amount of cash in ones and quarters (about $10 to $20, set by each facility) is allowed for vending; money for a resident's account is sent through JPay, never handed over at a visit.
Scheduling: North Dakota has no statewide online scheduler — visiting days and hours are set by each facility, so confirm the current schedule with the specific prison. Men enter the system at the North Dakota State Penitentiary (Bismarck); women at the Dakota Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center (New England).

Full statewide rules: Visiting in North Dakota

Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is North Dakota’s primary women’s prison, in New England, Hettinger County. Confirm the person is held here — and has not transferred — on the ND DOCR Resident Lookup before traveling. This facility is operated under contract by the Southwest Multi-County Correction Center (SWMCCC), not directly by the state, so some arrangements (including the visiting schedule and mail handling) are set by the facility and can differ from the state institutions — confirm details directly with the facility. A new, larger women’s prison, the Heart River Correctional Center, is scheduled to open in Mandan in fall 2027 and is expected to become the state’s primary women’s facility, consolidating women now held here; confirm the current location before traveling.

Overview

Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center (DWCRC), on McKenzie Street in New England, Hettinger County, is North Dakota’s primary women’s prison, in the southwestern part of the state. It holds women in minimum, medium, and special-management custody, and it is the women’s intake and orientation point for the ND DOCR system. The facility opened in 2003 under a contract to hold the state’s women statewide, and it is operated by the Southwest Multi-County Correction Center (SWMCCC) rather than directly by the state.

What Makes the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center Different

It is North Dakota’s primary women’s prison and the women’s intake point. It is the only ND DOCR facility that holds medium- and higher-custody women, and it includes a dedicated orientation unit where newly arriving women are received and assessed. (The other facility that holds women, the Heart River Correctional Center in Mandan, currently holds minimum-security women.)
It is operated under contract by SWMCCC. The Southwest Multi-County Correction Center is a public corrections authority owned by a group of southwestern North Dakota counties. The facility is neither state-run nor a for-profit private prison. Because it is contract-operated, some arrangements — including the visiting schedule and how incoming mail is handled — are set by the facility and can differ from the state institutions; confirm specifics directly with the facility.
A new women’s prison opens in 2027. A new, larger women’s prison, also named the Heart River Correctional Center, is under construction in Mandan and is scheduled to open in fall 2027. It is expected to become the state’s primary women’s facility and to consolidate women now held at DWCRC. Until that transition is complete, DWCRC remains the primary women’s prison; confirm the person’s current location on the Resident Lookup before traveling.

Visiting

The statewide ND DOCR rules above — the approved visitor list, the dress code, ID, and item limits — apply at the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center. The facility’s own arrangements:

The full approval process is in Visiting in North Dakota.

Getting There and Parking

The prison is on McKenzie Street in New England, in Hettinger County in southwestern North Dakota.

Distances are approximate, based on map routing. Visitor parking is on site.

Nearby Services

Dickinson, to the north, is the nearest larger city with lodging, gas, and food. The nearest hospital emergency room is in the Dickinson area.

Mail

North Dakota DOCR routes incoming personal mail through an off-site scanning vendor. Letters, cards, photos, and drawings are delivered to the Securus Digital Mail Center, where they are opened and scanned; the resident receives a digital copy on their Securus tablet (the “player”) rather than the original paper. Address personal mail with the resident’s full committed name and ID number at:

Resident’s Full Name and Number Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center 440 McKenzie Street New England, ND 58647

Because this facility is operated under contract by SWMCCC, confirm with the facility whether incoming personal mail is scanned off-site through the Securus Digital Mail Center or handled at the facility, and confirm the current mailing address before sending anything. Legal mail, court and agency correspondence, and documents requiring a signature are not scanned — they go directly to the facility. Publications must be new and shipped directly from an approved publisher or vendor. Full rules are in Mail in North Dakota.

Learn More

Visiting in North Dakota — Approved visitor list, scheduling with each facility, dress code, ID, and what you can bring.
Mail in North Dakota — How North Dakota scans personal mail, the addressing format, and how legal mail and publications are handled.
Phone & Video in North Dakota — Setting up Securus phone calls and video visits, and how messaging works.
Sending Money in North Dakota — Using JPay to add money to a resident’s trust account, by mail, online, app, or MoneyGram.
Medical Care in North Dakota — How health care, intake screening, and requests for care work in ND DOCR facilities.
Transfers & Intake in North Dakota — Where newly sentenced people enter the system, reception and orientation, and how transfers happen.

Sources

This page is compiled from the following publicly available sources. Policies change without notice — confirm current details with the facility before relying on them.