DOCR Capacity Issues Lead to Prisoner ‘Prioritization’ | News, Sports, Vacancies

Charles Crane/MDN The Ward County Detention Center is unlikely to be affected by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s decision to enter an inmate prioritization period announced Monday.

Due to continued overcrowding at the North Dakota State Prison, the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) has entered a period “prioritization”.

The North Dakota prison system exceeded its maximum capacity of 1,624 male inmates last year, with a current population of 1,779, according to a U.S. Department of Justice release Monday. Despite partnering with county jails such as the Ward County Detention Center in Minot to house inmates in unused beds, the press release said those additional beds are now full and the waitlist for new admissions has increased.

The priority inmate admission plan is implemented when the average daily inmate population in a particular month exceeds maximum operational capacity, giving DOCR the ability to turn away individuals who have been ordered to serve their sentences in its custody.

“Public safety continues to be our top priority as we begin to prioritize,” DOCR Director Colby Brown said.

The plan categorizes eligible inmates based on their offense level, with Class AA, A and B offenses being the first priority, according to the release. Non-violent felonies and misdemeanors are given lower priority for placement in state prison. The prioritization period is expected to last sometime until November, according to DOCR.

Those inmates in lower priority levels who are not selected for transfer will be required to remain under the jurisdiction of county jails. Major Paul Olthoff and Ward County Sheriff Robert Roed said the Ward County Detention Center (WCDC) is in a good position to survive the prioritization period, despite the fact that it currently houses 19 DOCR inmates, as well as four others, sentenced to serve time in DOCR. Olthoff said WCDC can house 286 inmates, but is currently budgeted for 150 to 170 inmates, with the current inmate population at 183 as of Tuesday.

“I don’t know what it will look like in a month. It will depend on who is convicted. I think they will start accepting people from (November) 16th, I think. I don’t know how this will affect us. In reality, this is just more work for the staff because the people who will be transported are still in the facility. DOCR will compensate us for this.” Olthoff said.

While it is possible to defer an overcrowded inmate’s sentence and release him to the public before his sentence expires, Steve Hall, DOCR’s director of transition planning, said the terms of such inmates’ release largely depend on their sentence.

“If they had been given a straight sentence without probation, then no, they would have simply been released from the county jail and the sentence would have been served. But if they were placed on probation as part of a criminal sentence, then yes, they would begin probation at the local probation office.” – said Hall.

In such a case, Hall said, it is unlikely that anyone released before the end of their sentence would be returned to DOCR to complete it due to capacity issues facing the department.

“We have about 140 people over budgeted capacity. “I think it will take some significant changes in sentencing practices to get the population back down to below that level.” – said Hall. “Ultimately, we would like to get out of the diversion regime and put people in jail who need to go to jail, and those who can serve their sentences in county jail should stay in county jail and serve shorter sentences.”

Deputy Director of Adult Services Rachelle Juntunen said if the county jail is unable to house the lower-level offenders themselves due to their own overcrowding issues, they will follow their own prioritization plan to find available space at another facility.

Juntunen said this scenario would likely only happen for people awaiting trial, who would then be supervised by pre-trial detention officers in the relevant jurisdiction.

“This is an opportunity to come to the Legislature and have an honest conversation about who is in prison. I think the general public hears about people getting out of prison or that prison is overcrowded and there is a sense of fear. Most people in prison are not in prison for violent crimes. They’re there for substance abuse.” – Juntunen said. “Having the opportunity to look at this and see if we can do something else that is cheaper and more effective for treating substance abuse than sending them to prison and hoping they get treatment that way.”