Five bunk beds sit vacant in the sleeping quarters of an empty inmate pod at the Burleigh/Morton County Detention Center on Dec. 17, 2025. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) — North Dakota’s prison system will use the Burleigh/Morton County Detention Center to house inmates instead of using the Grand Forks County jail to address its…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) – Authorities are searching for a fugitive who walked away from a minimum-security correctional facility and may be headed towards the Devils Lake area. According to the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 38-year-old Roman James Poitra walked away from the Missouri River Correctional Center just after 11 A.M. on November 8. Missouri River is an…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KVRR) — Grand Forks County Commission has approved a letter of intent to help relieve overcrowding at North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Unused space in the new expansion at Grand Forks County Correctional Center will provide jail beds to help with overcrowded prisons. Gov. Kelly Armstrong welcomes the news and said in a statement that…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) — North Dakota lawmakers are looking at a bill to alter the wording of the state’s current eligibility to stay in a transitional facility. The bill would focus on only having individuals who have either completed eighty-five percent of their sentence, have been commuted, or have committed a non-violent crime to stay in the facility. North Dakota…
Entrance sign at the gate of the Missouri River Correctional Center in Bismarck on June 6, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)BISMARCK, N.D. (Mary Steurer – North Dakota Monitor) The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will begin using a waitlist to decide who to admit to prison first after running out of beds for male inmates. North Dakota’s prison…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO/KVRR) – When Mano Gonzalez was transferred from an Oregon prison to the State Penitentiary in Bismarck over two decades ago, he didn’t even know where North Dakota was. Now, he calls it his blessing. “I was an interstate transfer,” Gonzalez says. “I came here with the sole purpose of just working on myself. Just investing in myself…
North Dakota State PenitentiaryBISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is reporting the first death of an inmate who was COVID-19 positive. The inmate, in his 60s, tested positive on November 16. He was admitted to a Bismarck hospital on Nov. 25, and passed away on Dec. 4. This is the first COVID-19 related death of…
BISMARCK, N.D.–The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will soon be allowing visitors back at its facilities. Social distancing guidelines will be in place during visits and tables will be disinfected between each visit. The Youth Correctional Center already began allowing outdoor visitations on June 27. Two adults are allowed per visit and each cottage has a 60-minute visitation…
