Prioritization Plan

The Sixty-fifth North Dakota Legislative Assembly mandated the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) develop a prison population management plan to prioritize inmate admissions based on sentences and available space at the North Dakota State Penitentiary and its affiliated facilities, the James River Correctional Center, the Missouri River Correctional Center, and the Heart River Correctional Center, and including the Dakota Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center.

The Legislative Assembly's mandate is set forth in N.D.C.C. 54-23.3-11

Prioritization of admission of inmates - Report to legislative management.

The department of corrections and rehabilitation may refuse to admit inmates sentenced to the physical custody of the department when the admission of inmates will exceed the maximum operational capacity of the penitentiary and its affiliated facilities and result in the department exceeding its authorized legislative appropriation for contracting for housing inmates in other correctional facilities. For purposes of this section, maximum operational capacity of the department means the total number of inmates that may be imprisoned at the same time in the penitentiary and its affiliated facilities. The department shall develop a prison population management plan to prioritize admissions based on sentences and the availability of space in the penitentiary and its affiliated facilities. The department shall report annually to the legislative management on the prison population management plan and inmate admissions and the number of inmates the department has not admitted after sentencing.

The DOCR's maximum operational capacity for men and women inmates is 1,624 and 224, respectively. The operational capacity consists of inmate housing at the North Dakota State Penitentiary, James River Correctional Center, Missouri River Correctional Center, Dakota Women's Rehabilitation and Correctional Center, contractual treatment, transitional / community housing facilities, and contract beds in county and regional correctional facilities. When the average daily inmate population, specific to gender, for a discrete month exceeds the maximum operational capacity, the DOCR will implement the inmate admission prioritization plan the following month.

Inmate Admission Prioritization Plan
Prioritization Chart