# North Dakota

North Dakota splits corrections oversight. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) sets and inspects standards for county, city, and regional jails, including staff training, and jail staff complete correctional officer training approved by the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board. The POST Board licenses DOCR probation and parole officers as peace officers. Since 2023 the State has redefined jail staff, required sex-designated multi-user restrooms and showers, let the POST Board order fitness exams, required DOCR to pay jails when it delays prison admissions, and funded jail programming grants.

Source: https://uscli.org/corrections-tracker/north-dakota

## At a glance

- **Certifying body:** Split. DOCR sets and inspects standards for county, city, and regional jails (“correctional facilities”), including staff training (N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-24). Jail staff must complete North Dakota Correctional Officer Basic Certification, and the POST Board “shall determine the North Dakota Correctional Officer Training necessary to achieve North Dakota certification” ([DOCR Correctional Facility Standards (2026)](https://www.docr.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/jails/Jail%20Standards/2026%20Correctional%20Facility%20Standards.pdf), Standards 104, 105). The POST Board licenses peace officers, which by statute include DOCR adult probation and parole officers (N.D.C.C. 12-59-20, 12-63-01, 12-63-02); see the [North Dakota Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/north-dakota). DOCR trains its own prison staff.
- **Statute:** N.D.C.C. chapter 12-44.1 (jails and correctional facilities: standards, inspection, supervision, inmate rights); chapter 12-63 (peace officer licensing); 12-59-20 (probation and parole officers as peace officers); chapter 54-23.3 (DOCR). DOCR issues jail standards as the annual North Dakota Correctional Facility Standards; the 2026 edition took effect January 1, 2026. The former NDAC article 94-02 (Jails) is repealed.
- **Minimum standards:** Inmates must be supervised around the clock by trained staff, with enough law enforcement officers with correctional training or trained correctional staff for intake, security, and custody ([N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-13](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t12c44-1.pdf)). Under the DOCR standards, only staff who have completed Correctional Officer Basic Certification and Correctional Medical Training I and II, or the orientation under Standard 103, or who act under the supervision of trained staff, may do intake screenings (Standard 21). A facility may not detain an inmate without at least two such trained officers on duty, and at least one female officer must be on duty whenever women are housed (Standard 30). No statutory hiring age, education, or background standard for jail officers was found.
- **Basic training:** Correctional officers must complete documented orientation before independent assignment, covering facility policy, the inmate handbook, key and equipment control, emergency procedures including first aid, CPR, and naloxone, classification, booking and medical and mental health screening, use of force, suicide response, victim notification, the Prison Rape Elimination Act, and bloodborne pathogens (Standard 103). Staff in direct and continuing contact with inmates must receive POST-approved training within their first year of employment (Standard 104). A person rehired within one year need not repeat basic training, and after a gap of one to three years the facility may work with the POST Board on refresher training instead (Standard 105). Course hours were not stated in the standards reviewed.
- **In-service training:** Jail staff need 48 hours of training in every 3-year period after hire, including CPR and naloxone recertification every 2 years, recertification every 4 years for certified medication technicians, facility-specific bloodborne-pathogens training every 4 years, and annual suicide-prevention training for staff who supervise inmates (Standard 104). The 2025 and 2026 editions have the same requirement.
- **Decertification:** For licensed peace officers, including probation and parole officers, the POST Board licenses and disciplines under N.D.C.C. chapter 12-63, and since July 1, 2025 it may, with cause, order a physical or psychological examination (entry below); see the [Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/north-dakota). No license or decertification system specific to jail correctional officers was found, and no public decertification list was found.
- **Jail standards:** DOCR must adopt minimum standards for the construction, operation, and maintenance of public and private correctional facilities and for the care of inmates. A DOCR correctional facility inspector inspects each facility at least once a year (health and safety, fire, security, programs, recreation, treatment of inmates, personnel training) and must issue a written report within 30 days. For violations, the DOCR director may issue an order of noncompliance setting corrective measures and deadlines, and then an order of full, partial, or temporary closure if they are not met, or immediately if health and safety are in danger; the facility may request review under chapter 28-32 ([N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-24, -25](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t12c44-1.pdf)). DOCR posts each year’s standards and individual inspection reports ([DOCR standards and inspections](https://www.docr.nd.gov/correctional-facility-standards-inspections)).
- **Probation and parole officers:** DOCR adult probation and parole officers have the power of a peace officer to enforce probation and parole laws, and to enforce the law, investigate, and arrest on or within premises under DOCR control ([N.D.C.C. 12-59-20(1)](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t12c59.pdf)). As peace officers they are licensed by the POST Board (12-63-01(3), 12-63-02).
- **Restrictive housing:** No statutory limit was found. The DOCR jail standards require documentation of pre-hearing restrictive housing, with a disciplinary hearing within 7 days unless a delay is authorized; written policy for disciplinary and administrative restrictive housing; and listed procedures for immediate administrative restrictive housing without notice for protection or serious threats (Standards 95 to 102).
- **Corrections use of force:** From DOCR standards, not statute. Facilities must have written use-of-force and restraint policies (Standards 37, 43). Restraints may be used only as a precaution against escape, during transport, for medical reasons at medical direction, or to prevent self-injury, injury to others, or property damage, never as punishment, and every use must be documented. Policies must address pregnant women, and “Restraints may not be used on a female who is in active labor and delivery” (Standard 43). During transport, facilities “shall refrain from the use of restraints on pregnant inmates,” with exceptions only by the administrator’s written approval (Standard 44(a)). Jails may arm qualified officers for contract transports under an approved policy (N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-30).

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Aug 1, 2025 — **DOCR must pay jails a contracted daily rate when it delays prison admissions more than 7 days** — 2025 HB 1344 (69th Leg.), new section in N.D.C.C. ch. 54-23.3 · Filed March 27, 2025; effective August 1, 2025 — If DOCR is over capacity and denies admission of a person sentenced to its custody, it may use local jails under negotiated agreements. Admission counts as denied when it is refused or unavailable within 7 days of notice. “When the denial of admission exceeds seven days, the department is responsible to pay the contracted rate beginning from the date of initial notification.” Agreements must set a minimum daily rate per inmate, including medical costs, running from the day after DOCR receives the court’s order until the admission date DOCR provides. — **For corrections staff:** Jail administrators holding DOCR-sentenced inmates for more than 7 days are owed the contracted daily rate, including medical costs. — [HB 1344 (2025) enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/documents/25-0867-03000.pdf)
- Aug 1, 2025 — **Grant program for jail programming** — 2025 HB 1549 (69th Leg.), new section in N.D.C.C. ch. 12-44.1 and two in ch. 54-23.3; amending 12-47-31 · Filed April 16, 2025; effective August 1, 2025 — DOCR must set up a correctional facility grant committee: two DOCR appointees, two Association of Counties appointees, the commissioner of recovery and re-entry, and the behavioral health director of the Department of Health and Human Services. “The correctional facility grant committee shall administer a grant program to expand access to evidence-based programming in county, regional, and tribal correctional facilities,” giving priority to facilities with no re-entry, educational, or counseling programs. The act also creates a housing task force and criminal justice data reporting, and amends discharge procedures to help released offenders get photo identification. — **For corrections staff:** Jails without re-entry or counseling programs get priority for state programming grants. — [HB 1549 (2025) enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/documents/25-1314-05000.pdf)
- Jul 1, 2025 — **POST Board may order fitness exams of licensed peace officers, including probation and parole officers** — 2025 SB 2165 (69th Leg.), amending N.D.C.C. 12-63-04(2), 12-63-05, 12-63-12 · Filed March 31, 2025; effective July 1, 2025, per the Legislative Council’s effective-dates list — If it deems an exam in the interest of public safety, the board may “require, with cause, any licensed peace officer complete a physical or psychological examination, or both,” by a professional the board selects. It may examine related medical and psychological records; a written board request authorizes their release, and they are exempt from the open-records law. Licensing fees are also amended. The Officer Ledger page covers the related licensing ground. — **For corrections staff:** Licensed probation and parole officers can be ordered, with cause, to a board-selected fitness-for-duty exam. — [SB 2165 (2025) enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/documents/25-0693-02000.pdf)[Effective dates of 2025 legislation](https://ndlegis.gov/sites/default/files/resource/69-2025/effective-dates-legislation/25.9565.03000.pdf)
- Aug 1, 2023 — **Jail definitions rewritten: adult lockups and “correctional facility staff”** — 2023 HB 1264 (68th Leg.), amending N.D.C.C. 12-44.1-01 and 12-44.1-07.1(3) · Signed March 30, 2023; no emergency clause, so effective August 1, 2023 (N.D. Const. art. IV, sec. 13) — The act reenacts the chapter 12-44.1 definitions, including “adult lockup” (a secure temporary hold with no overnight stays, including cuffing rails or benches) and “correctional facility” (a city or county jail or detention center, regional corrections center, or juvenile detention center). “‘Correctional facility staff’ means correctional personnel with titles such as jailer, deputy, counselor, correctional officer, or any other title, whose duties include the ongoing supervision of inmates in a correctional facility.” It also amends the provision on alternatives to physical custody. Only the enrolled text was read, and deleted and inserted text could not be told apart in it. — **For corrections staff:** Anyone whose job includes ongoing inmate supervision counts as correctional facility staff under the jail chapter, whatever the job title. — [HB 1264 (2023) enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0669-03000.pdf)[Bill actions](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/bill-actions/ba1264.html)
- Aug 1, 2023 — **Multi-user restrooms and showers in jails and prisons designated by sex** — 2023 HB 1473 (68th Leg.), new sections in N.D.C.C. ch. 12-44.1, 12-46, 12-47, 15-10 · Signed April 25, 2023; effective August 1, 2023 — “In a correctional facility, a restroom or shower room accessible by multiple inmates at the same time must be designated for use exclusively for males or exclusively for females.” The same rule applies at the Youth Correctional Center and the penitentiary. The administrator or staff must provide a reasonable accommodation, “including a transgender or gender-nonconforming inmate, as deemed appropriate by the administrator.” — **For corrections staff:** Staff must enforce sex-designated multi-user restrooms and showers and document accommodations the administrator approves. — [HB 1473 (2023) enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0498-08000.pdf)
- Aug 1, 2023 — **Prison cell-phone contraband: exception now “as authorized by” DOCR** — 2023 SB 2105 (68th Leg.), amending N.D.C.C. 12-47-21(8) · Filed March 28, 2023; effective August 1, 2023 — It is a class C felony for a penitentiary inmate to make, possess, or use a wireless communications device on DOCR premises, or for anyone to deliver one or “to allow a penitentiary inmate to possess or use a wireless electronic communications device, on or within any premises under the control of the department of corrections and rehabilitation.” The enrolled text replaces the old exception “except for law enforcement purposes” with “as authorized by the department of corrections and rehabilitation.” — **For corrections staff:** Staff may allow inmate device use only as DOCR authorizes; any other delivery or allowance is a felony. — [SB 2105 (2023) enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-8090-02000.pdf)

## Enacted, not yet in force, pending, and bills that did not pass

No enacted change was found awaiting its effective date. These bills were not enacted: 2025 HB 1060 (workers’ compensation presumption for correctional officers; failed January 23, 2025), 2025 SB 2111 (supervised probation for class B misdemeanors; failed January 15, 2025), and 2023 HB 1184 (peace officer and correctional officer appreciation grants; failed February 14, 2023). A 2025 version of the grants bill, HB 1193, was enacted, effective July 1, 2025; its terms were not reviewed for this page.

The 2026 special sessions (January 21 to 23 and September 2 to 4, 2026) were not searched for corrections measures.

## Checked and unchanged

- DOCR Standard 104 (jail staff training hours): the 2025 and 2026 editions have no substantive change. Other changes between the 2023 to 2027 editions were not compared.
- Not verified: 2025 HB 1177 (effective August 1, 2025) amends the public employees retirement definition of “correctional officer” to include facility employees enrolled in, but not yet finished with, a DOCR-approved correctional officer course; whether the trainee clause is new could not be confirmed. 2025 HB 1417 (probation and parole violations, court fees) and HB 1415 (DOCR work-schedule records exempt from open records), both effective August 1, 2025, were not compared against prior text.
- Not verified: Correctional Officer Basic Certification course hours, and who delivers the course.