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Corrections: state remains over capacity, negotiating contract beds and emphasizing care/staffing
Summary
Department of Corrections Director Colby Braun told the Budget Section the prison system remains over operational capacity and the department is negotiating multiple contracts and mission changes to add beds ahead of July 1, 2026, while stressing staffing and clinical care concerns.
Colby Braun, director of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, briefed the Budget Section on inmate population, operational capacity, and plans to add contract beds.
Braun said the system’s total count was 1,926 (a snapshot near the briefing) against an operational capacity of roughly 1,624 beds, meaning the department is more than 300 beds over capacity and using county jails as temporary overflow. Women’s population was about 277 and the department added 15 beds at Heart River Correction Center (HRCC) by converting programming space to dorms; that change provided immediate capacity and operating savings.
To expand capacity, the department is negotiating several contract bed arrangements: Grand Forks (60 beds under negotiation), Burley/Morton County (120 beds), a reentry center in the Minot/Williston area (25 beds), and a man‑camp contract that has already delivered 96 beds that will be operational July 1. If planned contract beds materialize and a mission change at the Dakota Women’s Correction Center proceeds, Braun said the state could reach roughly 1,925 beds by July 1, 2026.
Braun emphasized prison beds differ from jail beds: prisons provide long‑term care and treatment while jails provide short‑term holding, with implications for medical and mental‑health staffing. The department said it is negotiating staffing plans with counties and incorporating correctional health personnel and electronic health records to ensure continuity of care when beds are placed in contracted facilities.
Lawmakers asked about release‑location language that stalled a Grand Forks County commission vote and about confidence in finding staffing for contract sites; Braun said contract language had to be workable and that the department planned to provide additional nursing and DOCR staff where needed. Braun also noted longer average sentences (over three years) and a larger portion of people admitted with sentences exceeding five years, which contributes to sustained occupancy pressures.
The department did not request an immediate funding action but asked the committee to note the staffing and contract negotiations as it plans for the 25–27 biennium.
