Dramatic clouds behind barbed wire fence on a prison wall
BISMARCK – North Dakota’s county jails and state prisons have been bursting at the seams. Elected leaders are calling for meaningful solutions, with legal voices watching in the wings.
Last fall, the state Department of Corrections began using an admissions system similar to a “wait list” because prisons for men were overcapacity, and overflow beds in county jails were also full.
In this week’s state-of-the-state address, Governor Kelly Armstrong outlined ideas, including more funding for support services for those involved with the criminal justice system.
Travis Finck oversees North Dakota’s public defenders. He says overcrowding poses risks for his team’s clients and many clients are held pretrial because they’re not able to post any sort of bond or bail amount with the process sometimes being delayed, they are sitting in county jail and not receiving the level of programming that’s available at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Finck agrees with the governor that North Dakota can’t simply add more beds. He says the state has to increase funding for public defenders, arguing there’s too much staff turnover, creating continuity issues for clients as their cases proceed.
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