Transfers & Finding Someone in North Dakota (ND DOCR)

Finding someone

ND DOCR publishes an online Resident Lookup at docr.nd.gov/resident-lookup that is searchable by last name. The results show the person’s current facility, which is the reliable way to confirm where someone is held.

The Resident Lookup covers people currently incarcerated in a North Dakota DOCR facility. Someone held in a county jail before transfer to state custody may not yet appear in the ND DOCR system; a person awaiting transfer from a jail can be located through that county’s sheriff’s office instead.

Reception and classification

Newly sentenced people are not sent directly to a long-term assignment. They first pass through reception and orientation, where they are assessed and classified — including mental ability, mental-health, and physical and medical needs — and assigned a custody level before being moved to a permanent placement. Where that happens depends on the person:

• Men enter through the North Dakota State Penitentiary in Bismarck, the state’s oldest prison and its statewide men’s intake point. Its reception and orientation unit assesses and classifies new arrivals before they are placed.
• Women enter through the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New England, the state’s primary women’s prison, which has its own orientation unit for new arrivals.

Because reception is the first step, the facility shown in the Resident Lookup during this early period may be an intake point rather than the person’s eventual long-term placement.

How transfers work

ND DOCR reclassifies and moves people among its facilities based on custody level, programming, and bed space. After reception, a person is typically moved to a facility that matches the assigned custody class, and further transfers can follow over the course of a sentence.

ND DOCR does not generally notify families of transfers in advance. For someone tracking where a person is held, the Resident Lookup above is the practical tool — checking it again after a suspected move is how a new facility is confirmed.

The new women’s prison

A new, larger women’s prison — 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 will consolidate women now held at the Dakota Women’s Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New England.

Because of this planned change, where women are received and held may shift once the new facility opens. A family with a woman in ND DOCR custody, or expecting one to enter the system around that time, can use the Resident Lookup to confirm the current facility rather than assuming a particular location.

What a transfer means for visiting

A transfer can change visiting logistics. Every visitor must be on the person’s approved visitor list, and visits are scheduled with each facility rather than through a single statewide system. The days, hours, and other arrangements depend on the facility, so a move to a different prison can change when and how visits happen. After a transfer, visiting arrangements are confirmed with the facility where the person is currently housed. See Visiting in North Dakota.

Verify Before Acting

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