Heart River Correctional Center

A minimum-security state prison for women in Mandan, Morton County. A new, larger Heart River women's prison is under construction in Mandan and is scheduled to open in fall 2027.

Overview

Heart River Correctional Center (HRCC), on 16th Avenue Southwest in Mandan, Morton County, is a minimum-security state prison for women in central North Dakota, across the Missouri River from Bismarck. It was established in 2021 and currently holds women in minimum custody. North Dakota’s primary women’s prison as of 2026 is the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New England, which holds women in higher custody levels and serves as the women’s intake point.

What Makes the Heart River Correctional Center Different

• It is a minimum-security women’s facility established in 2021. It currently holds women in minimum custody only.
• A new, larger Heart River women’s prison is on the way. A purpose-built women’s prison — also to be named the Heart River Correctional Center, with about 304 beds — is under construction in Mandan and is scheduled to open in fall 2027. The state has said it will become North Dakota’s primary women’s facility and will consolidate women now held at the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New England. Until it opens, the existing Heart River holds minimum-security women only.
• It shares a Mandan campus address with a youth facility. The North Dakota Youth Correctional Center, a separate juvenile facility, is at the same Mandan campus address. Heart River is the adult women’s facility, distinct from the youth center.

Visiting

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

The full approval process is in Visiting in North Dakota.

Getting There and Parking

The prison is on 16th Avenue Southwest in Mandan, in Morton County in central North Dakota, across the Missouri River from Bismarck.

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

Nearby Services

Mandan and neighboring Bismarck, just across the Missouri River, have lodging, gas, and food. The nearest hospital emergency rooms are in the Bismarck–Mandan area.

Mail

North Dakota DOCR routes incoming personal mail through an off-site scanning vendor. Letters, cards, photos, and drawings sent to a resident 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 Committed Name and ID Number Heart River Correctional Center 701 16th Avenue Southwest Mandan, ND 58554

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. Confirm the current mailing address with the facility before sending anything, because mail-handling vendors and addresses change. 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.