Section 54-23.3-04 - Director - Powers and dutiesThe director of the department of corrections and rehabilitation has the following powers and duties:
1. To manage and control all institutions and programs within the department and to administer and enforce the laws with which the department is charged.2. To promote a unified criminal justice system and develop a statewide correctional philosophy in cooperation with the courts, law enforcement, and other entities in the criminal justice system.3. To develop necessary programs and services for adult and juvenile offenders, within legislative appropriations, to provide for their treatment and rehabilitation and to recognize their special needs.4. To develop, maintain, and revise as required a comprehensive master plan for the state's correctional system which must indicate the system's needs and resources.5. To establish policies and procedures necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the department.6. To organize the department into an adult services division, a juvenile services division, and such other divisions that will enable it to function most effectively and efficiently.7. To exercise general supervisory and appointing authority over all department employees, subject to any applicable personnel laws and rules.8. To employ and remove the director of the division of juvenile services, the director of the division of adult services, and other division directors and personnel who may be deemed necessary by the director of the department. Until the director of the department of corrections and rehabilitation has been granted the full-time equivalent positions within the department's budget for the division director positions, or when the positions are vacant, the responsibilities of these positions must be assumed by the director of the department of corrections and rehabilitation or by the director's designee.9. To delegate authority to subordinates as necessary and appropriate, clearly delineating the delegated authority and limitations.10. To promote the development of alternatives to conventional incarceration for those offenders who can be dealt with more effectively in less restrictive, community-based facilities and programs.11. To contract for correctional services, and to provide such services, with the United States, Canada, other states, and any of their governmental subdivisions and agencies and with another agency or governmental unit in this state, or with any private or public correctional or treatment facility or agency. The director shall reimburse the entity at an amount based upon the services required for the housing and treatment of inmates. The director may also contract to provide services, without cost to the state, for persons held by any of the jurisdictions mentioned in this section. If a treaty is in effect between the United States and a foreign country for the transfer and exchange of offenders, the director of the department of corrections and rehabilitation, upon recommendation of the warden and the approval of the governor, may on behalf of the state under the terms of the treaty transfer or exchange offenders and take any action necessary for the state to participate in the treaty.12. To lease land owned by the state under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and rehabilitation. A lease by the director is not subject to the conditions of this subsection. The director may sell or exchange, with the governor's approval, selected portions of land owned by the state under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections and rehabilitation and may sell, trade, lease, or grant mining easements to extract and remove any resources found on, in, or under said department of corrections and rehabilitation lands, including clay, coal, oil, gas, gravel, sand, dirt, and sod, under the following conditions: a. Any such sale, exchange, or transaction must allow for the submission of bids pursuant to a notice published in at least one official county newspaper. The sale, exchange, or transaction is exempt from the provisions of sections 54-01-05.2 and 54-01-05.5.b. Any such sale, exchange, or transaction may not be made for less than the appraised value, and the state reserves the right to reject any and all bids.c. The commissioner of university and school lands or the commissioner's designee shall provide technical assistance and advice to the director of the department of corrections and rehabilitation in any transaction.d. All legal documents, papers, and instruments required by any transaction must be reviewed and approved as to form and legality by the attorney general.e. Any of these transactions can be entered into on any terms and conditions permitted by law and approved by the governor.f. All funds and proceeds realized from any of these transactions must be placed in an interest-bearing fund in the state treasury, designated as the North Dakota state penitentiary land fund to be used for the acquisition of additional land and facilities; to maintain, expand, or develop affiliated facilities; to relocate the Missouri River correctional center and the farming and ranching operations of the North Dakota state penitentiary; or for penitentiary renovation.13. To provide meals at a fair value or without a charge to officers and employees of the department as required by their job assignments.14. To accept property forfeited or seized in accordance with law.15. To collect costs and fees from persons on correctional supervision for the supervision services, control devices, and programs as implemented by the department to assist in making community corrections an effective alternative to incarceration. A person on active supervision is presumed able to pay assessed fees unless the director, giving due consideration to the fiscal obligations and resources of the probationer, determines otherwise. A person with the ability to pay assessed fees who refuses to pay must be returned to the court for a judicial determination. In addition to any other remedies allowed by law, the department may enforce and collect any unpaid supervision costs and fees imposed as a condition of parole, probation, or under a program implemented under this section in a civil judgment entered by a district court of this state and may employ licensed collection agencies to enforce and collect any unpaid supervision costs and fees.16. To collect the costs of any presentence investigation and report incurred under subsection 11 of section 12.1-32-02, giving due consideration to the financial obligations and resources of the defendant.17. To employ personnel and to establish policies and procedures to supervise sexually dangerous individuals released to community placement on an outpatient basis in accordance with section 25-03.3-24.18. To employ personnel and to establish policies and procedures to supervise a child when a court orders supervision and management by the department under subsection 1 of section 27-20.4-18.Amended by S.L. 2023 , ch. 296( HB 1160 ), § 6, eff. 4/13/2023.Amended by S.L. 2011 , ch. 405( SB 2190 ), § 2, eff. 4/19/2011.