North Dakota funds corrections and assigns criminal justice studies

The law provides up to $492 million for the department’s work during the 2025–27 budget period. The appropriation covers adult services, youth services, and a pool for new and vacant full-time jobs. The funding is for July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.

The department may borrow up to $989,891 from the Bank of North Dakota to buy safety gear. The money may pay for tasers, body cameras, and protective vests. The department may use the credit only if it fails to get the federal grant and tells the budget office it will not receive federal funds for this purpose during the budget period. The interest rate cannot exceed the rate charged to North Dakota government entities. If it borrows, the department must ask the next Assembly for money to repay the loan. The department may borrow during the July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027, budget period.

The department must form a committee to oversee planning and design for a new Missouri River minimum-security facility and report on the work every quarter. The planning is for a new minimum-security facility for men at the Missouri River correctional center. The committee must include two majority-party lawmakers and one minority-party lawmaker. The next Assembly is to consider supporting completion of the facility during the 2027–29 budget period; this section does not require construction to be completed. The committee and quarterly reports apply during the July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027, budget period.

Legislative Management must study sentencing, corrections, and parole, and consider whether to study diversion and deflection centers. The sentencing study covers incarceration and parole, including victims’ rights and notification; it may include input from justice system participants and crime victims. The sentencing study must review the possible effects of requiring people in department custody to serve 85 percent of their sentences in secure facilities; it does not impose that rule. The diversion-center study is optional. Both studies must report findings and recommendations to the next Assembly. The required study and any diversion-center study take place during the 2025–26 interim, with reports to the seventieth Legislative Assembly.