Corrections director warns prison system overcapacity, says new women’s facility and pretrial work are urgent

Colby Braun, director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the state prison system is operating above capacity and that the department has used prioritization to manage admissions while county jails remain under pressure.

Braun said the men’s system has 1,624 design beds but that the department’s daily population has exceeded that level this biennium; at one point he told the committee the population reached roughly 1,878, about “250‑ish” beds over capacity. He said the women’s system capacity is about 262 beds (including 36 recently added beds), and the department averaged 271 women in custody in December.

Why it matters: Braun framed the capacity problem as a combination of longer sentences, steady admissions and constrained reentry support. He warned the committee that without a mix of capital investments, additional treatment and community‑based supports, the department will continue to rely on county jails and, at times, defer prison admissions.

Key points

- Overcapacity and deferred admissions: Braun said the department had 41 people on deferred admissions on a single recent Monday and that those deferrals had concentrated in a handful of counties (Burleigh County…