INMATEAID EDITORIAL ARTICLE
Schema: Article + FAQPage
Internal links: North Dakota inmate search, send money, visitation guide (DOCR), Staying Connected hub, North Dakota reentry resources
SOURCING NOTE: DOCR phone (official docr.nd.gov/telephone-calls; Securus Technologies; rate $0.079 per minute confirmed on official page; collect call account at securustech.net or 1-800-844-6591; all calls monitored/recorded; no incoming calls; two initial 5-minute calls given to each new resident on arrival at NDSP orientation; after that all calls paid; Telephone Application required signed form for all contacts on calling list; attorney calls not monitored; DOCR does not have resident messaging line for voice messages; staff will not take messages for residents); tablets (Securus tablet program; ND DOCR confirmed as Securus/JPay tablet state; tablet called "player" in official correspondence page); mail (official docr.nd.gov/correspondence: "Once the mail is received at the Securus Digital Mail Center, it will be digitally scanned and made available on the resident's player"; pictures/drawings accepted for scanning; no personal correspondence by certified mail; Securus electronic mail system for stamps/electronic messages; person sending mail who wants it returned must include self-addressed stamped envelope); video visits (official docr.nd.gov/visitation; remote video visits at www.videovisitanywhere.com; must schedule at least 24 hours in advance; subject to fee noted when scheduling; requires internet/webcam/mobile or tablet or computer; hours by facility: NDSP 8am-8pm CT; JRCC 8am-8:30pm CT; MRCC 8am-10:30pm CT; attorney video visits through Securus Technology with attorney account); DOCR uses "residents"; structure (NDSP North Dakota State Penitentiary Bismarck max 3100 Railroad Ave PO Box 5521 Bismarck ND 58506-5521 701-328-6100; JRCC James River CC Jamestown ~90 miles east of Bismarck; MRCC Missouri River CC Bismarck minimum; HRCC Heart River CC Mandan; DWCRC Dakota Women's CF and Rehabilitation Center New England ND ~95 miles southwest Bismarck; Youth Correctional Center Mandan; DOCR HQ 3100 Railroad Avenue Bismarck ND 58506; 701-328-6390; docr.nd.gov); BOP federal ND (no major BOP facility in North Dakota; federal cases to regional facilities; BOP TRULINCS/CorrLinks 300 min/month, 15-min call cap, $0.06/min audio per FCC Jan 2025, TRULINCS $0.05/min compose, 30 contacts max, no attachments); county jails (53 ND counties; each own vendor; Securus common; confirm with specific facility); geography (small population ~770K; most facilities clustered south-central Bismarck-Mandan-Jamestown corridor; NDSP/MRCC/HRCC all in Bismarck-Mandan area; JRCC Jamestown ~90 miles east; DWCRC New England ~95 miles SW; most families within 2 hours of most facilities; geographic barrier minimal compared to larger states).
SAFETY/EDITORIAL GUARDRAILS: Voice = knowledgeable formerly-incarcerated parent, warm, direct, personal. North Dakota structural hooks: (1) two free initial calls on NDSP arrival - immediate contact window before account setup; (2) Securus Digital Mail Center scans all mail to tablet player, including pictures and drawings; (3) $0.079/min rate confirmed on official page; (4) video visits at videovisitanywhere.com, 24 hours advance, fee; (5) compact state - most families within 2 hours. DOCR uses "residents." Scott's firsthand woven as narrative. No em dashes, no smart quotes, no double hyphens.
Parenting From Prison in North Dakota
When a new resident arrives at the North Dakota State Penitentiary for orientation, they receive two initial five-minute telephone calls at no charge. Not as a favor. As a standard policy. Two calls to reach family before any account is set up, before any Telephone Application has been submitted, before the calling list has been approved.
For a parent, those two calls are the first contact window. Use one of them to reach the person who is responsible for your children. Tell them where you are and how the system works and what needs to happen next. Tell them the Telephone Application is coming and what to do when it arrives. Tell the children you are okay. Five minutes is enough for both of those things if you go into the call knowing what you need to say.
After those two initial calls, all calls require a signed Telephone Application to add the contact to the calling list, and all calls are paid. That is the North Dakota system. It starts with a gift of access and then becomes a managed, paid communication channel. This guide covers how to build that channel well, and how to use every other tool available in a state that is smaller and more compact than most, which means the drive to visit is usually possible in ways that states like Alaska, Montana, and Hawaii cannot match.
The Telephone Application and the Calling List
A completed and signed Telephone Application is required for every person on a resident's calling list. The application form is available through the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Fill it out for every family member you want to be able to call, not just the primary caregiver. Each person must be individually approved.
Once approved contacts are on the calling list, phone calls go through **Securus Technologies**. The rate is **$0.079 per minute** - just under eight cents - confirmed on the official DOCR telephone page. Families set up collect call accounts at **securustech.net** or by calling Securus at **1-800-844-6591**. All calls are monitored and recorded except attorney calls. No incoming calls, and the DOCR does not have a messaging line where staff will take messages for residents.
At just under eight cents a minute, a 15-minute call costs about $1.20. That is not the lowest rate in this series - New Hampshire is at five cents, New Jersey under four, North Carolina at the FCC cap - but it is modest enough that regular daily calls to your children are financially sustainable.
The calls run through the traditional phone system and through the Securus tablet. Either channel connects to the same calling list. Use whichever is accessible in your housing unit at the time.
The Two Calls on Arrival: What to Do With Them
Five minutes is a specific amount of time. It is enough to do one thing well. It is not enough to do three things adequately.
If your first call goes to the co-parent or caregiver: say where you are, give the facility name and the DOCR phone number (701-328-6100 for NDSP), and tell them the Telephone Application is coming and they need to fill it out and return it so they can receive future calls. That one piece of information - the application is coming, return it promptly - is what prevents the silence that follows arrival from lasting weeks instead of days.
If your second call goes directly to a child: use all five minutes to be present for that child. Do not spend those minutes on logistics. Ask them one question about their life. Tell them you are safe. Tell them you are going to keep calling. End with I love you. A child who receives a five-minute call that is entirely for them in the first 24 hours is a child whose parent showed up on day one.
Mail Through the Securus Digital Mail Center
Like New Mexico and North Carolina, North Dakota routes all incoming personal mail through a digital mail center. The official DOCR correspondence page states: once mail is received at the **Securus Digital Mail Center**, it will be digitally scanned and made available on the resident's tablet player. This includes pictures and drawings. A child's drawing sent from home arrives on the tablet as a scanned image rather than as a physical object in the room.
That is a real change from what families expect when they imagine staying in touch through handwritten letters. The content of the letter does not change because of how it travels. The question you asked, the drawing the child made, the update on the school week, all of that survives the digital conversion and lands on the player.
Tell your family before they send anything: mail goes to the facility address but is processed through the Securus Digital Mail Center before reaching you. Give them the correct mailing address - NDSP address is 3100 Railroad Avenue, PO Box 5521, Bismarck ND 58506-5521 - with your full name and resident number on the envelope. Anyone who wants their physical mail returned if it is not delivered must include a self-addressed stamped envelope with the original.
Securus also provides an electronic mail system through which family can purchase stamps and send digital messages directly. Electronic messages arrive faster than physical mail processed through the digital center. Both channels are available; use whichever the family can manage most consistently.
Video Visits: VideoVisitAnywhere and the 24-Hour Window
Remote video visits at North Dakota DOCR facilities are available through **www.videovisitanywhere.com**. Visits must be scheduled at least **24 hours in advance**. The fee is noted at the time of scheduling. You need internet access, a webcam, and a device (smartphone, tablet, or computer with a webcam).
Hours vary by facility:
- NDSP (Bismarck): 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Central Time
- JRCC (Jamestown): 8:00 AM to 8:30 PM Central Time
- MRCC (Bismarck): 8:00 AM to 10:30 PM Central Time
For a parent, the video visit does something the phone call cannot: the child sees your face. For a young child who processes the world through faces and physical presence, the video visit bridges the gap between the voice on the phone and the person in the visiting room. It is not a substitute for the in-person visit. It is what fills the weeks between those visits.
Schedule it 24 hours out. Have the child ready. Know what you are going to say, the same way you know before a phone call. Let the child talk. Let them show you something on their end - a drawing, a school project, a toy, whatever they want to bring into the frame. The video visit is a face-to-face moment and it carries the warmth that a voice alone cannot.
In-Person Visiting in North Dakota's Compact Geography
North Dakota is a small state in population, and its correctional facilities are clustered in a manageable corridor. The North Dakota State Penitentiary, Missouri River Correctional Center, and Heart River Correctional Center are all in or near the Bismarck-Mandan metro area. James River Correctional Center is in Jamestown, about 90 miles east. The Dakota Women's Correctional and Rehabilitation Center is in New England, about 95 miles southwest of Bismarck.
For a family in Bismarck visiting someone at NDSP, the drive is measured in minutes. For a family in Fargo visiting JRCC in Jamestown, the drive is about an hour. For a family in Grand Forks visiting NDSP, it is about three hours. North Dakota does not have the geographic nightmare of Alaska, Montana, or Hawaii. For most families in this state, the in-person visit is within reach.
Use that. Schedule the visit. The visit is more important than the phone call and the video session both, for a young child especially. The physical presence, the contact, the face across a table rather than on a screen - for a child who is trying to understand where their parent is and whether they are still there in any real sense, the in-person visit answers questions that the screen cannot.
Check the specific facility for current visiting hours and procedures. Valid photo ID is required for all adult visitors. Minors under 16 do not need photo ID but must be accompanied by an approved adult. All visitors are subject to search upon entering HRCC and other facilities with security checkpoints.
Letters and Drawings to Your Children
The physical letter from a resident to a child still travels the normal way - outgoing mail from the facility to the family's address. Your letters reach your children as physical objects with your handwriting. The digital mail processing is for incoming mail only.
Write to each child individually. One letter, their name at the top, their world inside it. North Dakota's school year runs a traditional calendar. The spring thaw is specific to this state, the long cold of winter, the rodeo culture in the western part of the state, the particular character of plains communities. Write to the season your child is in. Reference the specific thing happening in their life this week.
Ask the real question. Give them something to respond to. A child who writes back is in a correspondence with their parent, and a correspondence is a relationship. The letter that arrives at the house with your handwriting on the envelope is not the same as the scanned image on a tablet. It is something they can hold. Send it.
DOCR's Approach: Residents, Not Offenders
North Dakota uses the term "residents" for people in its correctional facilities, consistently across official DOCR materials. It is one of a small group of states in this series - alongside Minnesota, Maine, and New Hampshire - that have moved away from the more punitive terminology and toward language that acknowledges the person inside the institution is a human being with a life that extends beyond the walls.
For a parent, this is not just a terminology note. It reflects something real about how the DOCR approaches its population. The official press release describing the Securus tablet program specifically mentions the partnership as a reentry tool and talks about "individuals who are ready for a second chance." The language is consistent with a corrections department that genuinely weights rehabilitation alongside security. That context matters for how you engage with the system from the inside.
For the Family Holding North Dakota Together
Three things before anything else: fill out and return the Telephone Application for every adult who will receive calls. Set up the Securus account at securustech.net. Check the DOCR website at docr.nd.gov for the current mail address and visiting hours for the specific facility.
Then use the compact geography of this state. The in-person visit is usually within reach in North Dakota. Make it happen. Schedule the video visit at videovisitanywhere.com for the weeks between in-person visits. Keep the Securus calling account funded for daily phone calls.
And make the two initial arrival calls count. The first days set the rhythm. A parent who uses those two free five-minute calls deliberately, who reaches the caregiver and who reaches a child, who establishes that contact will continue, begins the relationship with their children from inside on the right note.
Federal Inmates From North Dakota: Regional BOP
North Dakota does not have a major Bureau of Prisons facility. Federal defendants from North Dakota are typically placed at regional BOP facilities in the Midwest or Northwest depending on security classification. If you are in federal custody and housed out of state, the national BOP standard applies.
**Phone:** 300 minutes per month, 15-minute call caps at $0.06 per minute, plus 100 extra minutes in November and December. **TRULINCS/CorrLinks:** $0.05 per minute on your end, free for the family, up to 30 approved contacts, text only, no attachments. The email channel covers the daily contact that the phone call cannot hold.
FAQ
**What are the two initial calls given at NDSP orientation?** Every new resident arriving at the North Dakota State Penitentiary for orientation receives two free five-minute telephone calls. These calls can be made before any calling list account is set up. After those two calls, all subsequent calls require a completed Telephone Application and a funded Securus account.
**What is the phone rate in North Dakota?** Calls through Securus Technologies run at $0.079 per minute, confirmed on the official DOCR telephone page. Families set up collect call accounts at securustech.net or by calling 1-800-844-6591. A signed Telephone Application is required to add any contact to the calling list.
**What happens to mail sent to a North Dakota state prison?** All incoming personal mail is received at the Securus Digital Mail Center, digitally scanned, and made available on the resident's tablet player. Pictures and drawings are accepted for scanning. Electronic messages can also be sent through the Securus electronic mail system. Outgoing mail from residents to family still travels as physical mail.
**How do video visits work in North Dakota?** Remote video visits are scheduled at www.videovisitanywhere.com at least 24 hours in advance. A fee is noted at the time of scheduling. Equipment required: internet access, webcam, and a smartphone, tablet, or computer. Facility hours vary: NDSP 8am-8pm CT, JRCC 8am-8:30pm CT, MRCC 8am-10:30pm CT.
**How far are North Dakota's facilities from major population centers?** Most facilities are in the Bismarck-Mandan corridor. NDSP, MRCC, and HRCC are in Bismarck-Mandan. JRCC is in Jamestown, about 90 miles east. DWCRC is in New England, about 95 miles southwest. For families in Fargo or Grand Forks, the drives range from 1 to 3 hours.
**Does North Dakota allow in-person visits?** Yes. In-person visitation is available at all DOCR facilities. Valid photo ID is required for adults; minors under 16 do not need photo ID but must be accompanied by an approved adult. All visitors are subject to search at facilities with security checkpoints. Check docr.nd.gov for current visiting hours and facility-specific rules.
**What term does North Dakota DOCR use for incarcerated people?** North Dakota consistently uses the term "residents" across all official DOCR materials, reflecting a rehabilitation-oriented approach to corrections.
[Affiliate handling: Product-light parenting spoke - NO external affiliate links. Internal CTAs only (standard 5): North Dakota inmate search, send money, visitation guide DOCR, Staying Connected hub, North Dakota reentry resources. SOURCING: DOCR phone (official docr.nd.gov/telephone-calls: Securus Technologies; $0.079/min confirmed; securustech.net or 1-800-844-6591; all calls monitored/recorded; no incoming calls; 2 initial 5-min calls on NDSP arrival; Telephone Application required; no staff message relay); tablets (Securus tablet program; "player" per correspondence page; Securus/JPay tablet state confirmed); mail (official docr.nd.gov/correspondence: "Once the mail is received at the Securus Digital Mail Center, it will be digitally scanned and made available on the resident's player"; pictures/drawings accepted; no personal correspondence by certified mail; Securus electronic mail stamps; SASE for return); video visits (official docr.nd.gov/visitation: www.videovisitanywhere.com; 24 hours advance; fee noted at scheduling; internet/webcam/device required; NDSP 8am-8pm CT; JRCC 8am-8:30pm CT; MRCC 8am-10:30pm CT); DOCR uses "residents"; structure (NDSP Bismarck max 3100 Railroad Ave PO Box 5521 Bismarck ND 58506-5521 701-328-6100; JRCC Jamestown; MRCC Bismarck minimum; HRCC Mandan; DWCRC New England ND; Youth CC Mandan; DOCR HQ 701-328-6390; docr.nd.gov); geography (small population; facilities clustered Bismarck-Mandan-Jamestown; most families within 2 hours); BOP ND (no major BOP; regional BOP; TRULINCS/CorrLinks 300 min/month + 100 Nov-Dec, 15-min cap, $0.06/min audio per FCC Jan 2025, TRULINCS $0.05/min compose, 30 contacts max, no attachments); county jails (53 ND counties; Securus common; each own vendor). GUARDRAILS: no em dashes, no smart quotes, no double hyphens; warm/direct/personal voice; 2 free arrival calls + digital mail to player + compact geography + videovisitanywhere.com as structural hooks; "residents" used throughout. Scott firsthand woven. NOTE for Poorwa: verify 2 initial 5-minute calls at NDSP arrival still current per docr.nd.gov/telephone-calls; verify Securus still DOCR phone vendor; verify $0.079/min rate is current; verify Securus Digital Mail Center is current mail delivery method per docr.nd.gov/correspondence; verify videovisitanywhere.com is current video visit platform; verify facility hours NDSP 8am-8pm/JRCC 8am-8:30pm/MRCC 8am-10:30pm CT; verify NDSP address PO Box 5521 Bismarck ND 58506-5521; len()/character check before publish.]