Medical & Mental Health in North Dakota (ND DOCR)

Health care in North Dakota prisons

Medical, dental, and mental-health care is provided across North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (ND DOCR) facilities. The agency’s published material does not name a statewide medical provider, and whether day-to-day care is delivered by ND DOCR’s own staff or by an outside provider is not confirmed in those sources. This guide therefore does not name a provider.

Routine care generally begins at each prison’s on-site clinic. A resident requests care by submitting a request to the facility’s medical staff. The official sources do not publish a co-pay amount, so any charge for a sick-call request, and any exemptions, should be confirmed with the facility’s medical staff, because details are not stated in the published material.

Screening at intake

Health care in the ND DOCR system begins with screening when a person enters. At the North Dakota State Penitentiary in Bismarck, the statewide men’s reception point, the orientation process includes an assessment of a resident’s mental ability, mental-health, and physical and medical needs, along with program needs, before the resident is classified. Newly sentenced women enter through the women’s facility’s orientation unit, where intake screening is also conducted.

This intake assessment is the point at which existing conditions, medications, and treatment needs are first recorded in the system. Confirm with the facility how an ongoing medication or a current course of treatment is continued after intake.

Requesting care and raising a concern

A resident requests medical, dental, or mental-health care by submitting a request to the facility’s medical staff, generally through the on-site clinic. Confirm the current request procedure and any charge with the facility, because the official sources do not detail them.

A health or treatment concern that cannot be resolved with the facility’s medical staff can be raised through the ND DOCR grievance process, the agency’s formal procedure for resident complaints. The procedure has internal review steps within the prison and the department. North Dakota has no confirmed separate independent corrections ombudsman in the sources reviewed, so the grievance process is the route for review of a health or treatment concern. Confirm the current grievance steps and deadlines with the facility’s medical staff.

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Know Your Rights.