Charles Crane/MDN The Ward County Detention Center is unlikely to be affected by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations decision to enter a period of inmate prioritization, which was announced on Monday.

Due to ongoing overcrowding at the North Dakota State Penitentiary, the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) has entered a period of “prioritization.”

According to a Monday release by the DOCR, North Dakota’s prison system has exceeded its maximum operational capacity of 1,624 male inmates in the last year, with the current population standing at 1,779. Despite partnering with county jails, such as the Ward County Detention Center in Minot, to house inmates in unutilized bed space, the release stated those additional beds are now full and the waiting list for new admissions has grown.

The inmate admission prioritization plan is implemented when the average daily inmate population in a discrete month exceeds the maximum operational capacity, opening the door for the DOCR to refuse individuals who have been ordered to serve their sentence in its custody.

“Public safety continues to be our top priority as we enter prioritization,” DOCR Director Colby Braun said in the release.

The plan categorizes respective inmates based on their offense level, with Class AA, A and B offenses being the first in prioritization, according to the release. Nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors receive a lower prioritization for placement at the state penitentiary. The prioritization period is expected to last until sometime in November, according to DOCR information.

Those inmates in the lower tiers of prioritization who are not selected to be transferred will have to remain in the jurisdiction of county jails. Major Paul Olthoff and Ward County Sheriff Robert Roed said the Ward County Detention Center (WCDC) is in a good position to weather the prioritization period, despite currently holding 19 DOCR inmates along with an additional four sentenced to serve time with the DOCR. Olthoff said the WCDC can hold 286 inmates but is currently budgeted for a range between 150-170 inmates, with the current population as of Tuesday sitting at 183.

“I don’t know what it will look like in a month. It will depend on who is sentenced. I think they will start accepting people on (November) 16, I believe. I don’t know how it’s going to affect us. Really, it’s just extra work for the staff because the people who would be transported are still in the facility. The DOCR will be compensating us for that,” Olthoff said.

While the option does exist for an overflow inmate to have their sentence deferred and released into the public before their sentence is completed, Steve Hall, DOCR director of transitional planning, said the condition of release of such inmates largely depends on their sentence.

“If they were given a straight sentence with no probation, then no, they would just be released from the county jail and be done with their sentence. But if they had probation ordered as part of their criminal judgment, then yes, they would start probation with their local probation office,” Hall said.

In such an instance, Hall said, it is unlikely anyone released before their sentence is completed would be returned to the DOCR to complete it due to the capacity issues the department is facing.

“We’re about 140 people above our budgeted capacity. It would take some significant changes, I think, in sentencing practices to reduce our population back down to below that,” Hall said. “We would eventually like to get out of deferred and get people to prison that need to come to prison, and those who can serve their sentence in a county jail should stay in a county jail and serve those shorter sentences.”

Deputy Director of Adult Services Rachelle Juntunen said if a county jail is unable to hold the lower level offenders themselves due to their own overcrowding issues, they will follow their own prioritization plan to locate an available spot at another facility.

Juntunen said this scenario would likely only occur for individuals awaiting trial who would then fall under the supervision of pretrial services personnel in the appropriate jurisdiction.

“This is an opportunity going into the Legislature to have an honest conversation about who is in prison. I think the general public hears about people getting out of prison or that prison is full, there’s a sense of fear. The majority of people in prison aren’t there for a violent crime. They’re there for substance abuse,” Juntunen said. “Having an opportunity to look at that and see if there’s something else we could do that’s cheaper and more effective to treat substance abuse than sending them to prison, hoping they’ll get treatment through that route.”