Mountrail County ND Jail

Mountrail County ND Jail basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 701-628-2975

This facility is for adult inmates.

The Mountrail County ND Jail is a medium-security detention center located at 101 North Main St Stanley, ND which is operated locally by the Mountrail County Sheriff's Office and holds inmates awaiting trial or sentencing or both. Most of the sentenced inmates are here for less than two years. Mountrail County accepts inmates from surrounding towns, municipalities, the US Marshal's Service and the Stanley Police Department who do not have their own long-term lock-up.

ND County Jail Construction Update

Posted 6/29/17 (Thu)

North Dakota counties have invested $140 million in the first six months of 2017 in expanding jail bed space. McKenzie and Mountrail Counties added 114 and 34 beds, respectively, in April. In June, law enforcement officials in Burleigh and Morton Counties transferred all their inmates to a new combined Burleigh Morton County Detention Center built on the east side of Bismarck. The new detention center is now the largest county jail facility in the state with 555 beds – replacing 182 beds in the two facilities. These three jails alone bring 521 additional beds online.

But the building is not done. Construction is currently going on in Bottineau, Williams, Mercer, Ward and Rolette Counties. By the end of 2017, North Dakota counties will have added 886 county jail beds this year. This increases the county jail capacity from 1,765 beds to 2,633 beds. Even with expansions, sheriffs are doubtful there will be an overabundance of jail beds in the state.

Plans to expand jail bed space have been in the works for the past five years aftercounties were challenged with a statewide shortage of jail beds. Counties were forced to transport inmates continuously, several counties transporting inmates every day. This shifted law enforcement officers’ time away from patrolling to transporting; in addition, counties were faced with excessive costs associated with housing those inmates elsewhere.

“Burleigh County spent in excess of $1 million a year to house inmates in other facilities,” commented Sheriff Pat Heinert.

Because a majority of jails in the state were in the same situation, finding an available bed in close proximity was nearly impossible. Several counties had to utilize facilities outside of North Dakota. The nine counties who have decided to build say it was their only option.

Williams County Sheriff Scott Busching said, “The cost of housing and transporting inmates from other jails was not a sustainable solution for Williams County. With the additional jail space, we will be able to accommodate inmates we currently have housed at outside facilities.”

Expansion plans are scaled to meet each county’s need. The state’s larger counties are adding a greater number of beds to serve a more regional demand; while the smaller counties are adding anywhere from 15 to 34 beds.

According to a recent NDACo survey, counties identified the lack of jail beds and the excessive costs of transporting and contracting beds as the number one reason why they decided to add jail capacity. Increasing the safety of the jail for the public, inmates, jail employees and the community was also a major reason for improving the facilities.

In many instances, counties used the building project as a way to expand other essential facilities as well, by adding office space, dispatch locations and courtrooms. The projects also provided an opportunity to add space for other enhanced correctional services, such as medical, educational programming, improved visitation rooms and separation for female inmates.

Two counties are still considering building options. Stutsman County looked at doubling its jail beds by either expanding or building a new jail at a separate location. The county decided to hold off on the project at this time. Grand Forks County is currently in the process of a jail study to determine if they should expand their 242 bed facility.

The county jail expansions come at an interesting time. The North DakotaLegislature passed numerous bills aimed at justice reinvestment. For the most part the reform initiatives decrease the severity of drug crimes, eliminate mandatory minimum sentences and will decrease the length of many sentences. The main goal of the justice reform was to alleviate the growth of inmates at the state level, in the prison system. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is also authorized to develop an inmate prioritization plan, where they can refuse lower priority inmates sentenced to DOCR if they reach their maximum capacity.

visitation Info

Visiting Hours: MWF 2pm-4pm