DOCR defends transitional facilities and requests funds for MRCC replacement, warns bill limiting placements would raise costs

Colby Braun, director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the Appropriations Committee that transitional facilities and reentry programs have reduced return‑to‑prison rates and that removing those options would increase costs to the state and to victims.

Braun described DOCR’s population, staffing pressures, and capital requests (including design of a replacement for the Missouri River Correction Center) and urged the committee to consider the fiscal and public‑safety impacts of bills that would limit the use of transitional facilities. He provided performance figures for transitional programs and said the department is asking the Legislature to authorize capital funds and additional operating capacity to meet current needs.

"Prison is the punishment," Braun said. "Our job ... is to find them a path to success," which he said reduces future victims and returns fewer people to prison. He presented DOCR’s case with data on reentry outcomes, staffing turnover and requests for facility design and construction.

Braun told the committee the DOCR provides care, custody and community supervision for more than 9,500 people statewide and that the department currently serves about 200 people in transitional facilities (work‑release and reentry centers). The agency requested funding for a design for a new, 600‑bed Missouri River Correction Center replacement and additional funds to complete the Heart River (women’s) facility. Braun said the Heart River project had $30 million in prior legislative intent and the department is asking for an additional roughly $5.6 million to complete equipment and program features the agency prioritized during design.

He described the eligibility and review process for transitional placements: people must be minimum custody, compliant with work, education and treatment expectations, usually within 12 months of release (with some statutory exceptions), and approved by facility and DOCR decision‑makers. Braun said transitional placements are not a shortcut but a managed, supervised phase of reentry meant to reduce recidivism and increase wage‑earning and restitution outcomes.

To illustrate results, Braun gave examples of two program graduates who left transitional facilities with employment and savings and said agency data show high rates of success for people who complete transitional programs. He said, based on agency records, "92 percent of violent offenders who reenter society through a transitional facility do not commit another violent act returning them to a North Dakota prison," and that 98 percent of nonviolent participants do not commit a violent act on return. He also said about 513 inmates transitioned through a transitional facility in the period cited and that 306 received primary substance‑abuse treatment while in those programs.

Braun warned the committee about Senate Bill 2128, which he said would change how confinement is defined and could prevent the department from using transitional facilities as part of confinement. He summarized the budgetary consequences the department provided in its fiscal estimate: increased direct operating costs to return people to higher‑security placements and loss of fines, fees, child support and tax contributions associated with the higher‑engagement transitional placements. At the hearing he characterized the agency’s estimate as in the mid‑tens of millions for the first biennium, and offered a ballpark agency figure of roughly $25–27 million for initial impacts in one biennium if transitional placements were removed; he said the department will provide the committee a detailed estimate.

On staffing, Braun said turnover and years of experience have fallen: for example, average years of service for correctional officers and probation staff are lower now than several years ago. The department has used targeted pay equity, and Braun praised recently enacted retirement changes (moving certain correctional staff into a public safety retirement plan) as helpful for recruitment and retention, but he repeated the department’s request for additional equity adjustments to reduce turnover.

Braun also described capital and equipment priorities: the Heart River women’s facility completion needs (coolers/freezers moved inside, additional visitor and industry space), design money for a new MRCC (he asked for design funding for a 600‑bed replacement), maintenance work at several facilities, and equipment such as body scanners and body‑worn cameras to reduce contraband and allegations and to improve officer safety.

Committee members asked questions about escapes and walkaways, juvenile populations, transitional facility populations and the fiscal estimate for SB 2128; Braun and other DOCR staff said escapes are rare (he offered an estimate of under five per year at MRCC historically and committed to provide detailed counts), juvenile admissions have declined over the long term and that DOCR would provide more‑detailed fiscal information to the committee. Lisa Beargard, director of the Division of Juvenile Services, added that serious and violent juvenile crime has been declining over decades and that community‑based services have expanded, reducing custodial placements for children.

Ending: Braun asked legislators to visit DOCR facilities and meet staff; he told the committee the department will provide requested data (bridge counts and staffing breakdowns were DOT items; for DOCR he committed to provide detailed fiscal estimates for policy proposals and further population and staffing tables) and to return for detailed division hearings on the budget requests.