BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Emergency Commission, chaired by Gov. Kelly Armstrong, unanimously approved funding today to expand the use of GPS monitoring bracelets to all residents of transitional facilities to enable real-time supervision and enhance public safety.
The North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) requested $105,000 to support the change for the remainder of the biennium ending June 30, 2027.
The DOCR already implemented GPS monitoring in October 2025 for approximately 300 individuals on inmate status at transitional facilities, addressing lawmakers’ concerns about supervision, accountability and community safety. The cost of that change was $568,000, which was absorbed within the DOCR’s existing budget authority.
With the contingency funds approved today, the DOCR will also require GPS monitoring of individuals placed in transitional facilities by external authorities, including courts and the parole board, where the DOCR remains responsible for their supervision and public safety. That includes those on work release. The DOCR estimates an average of 122 individuals from probation and parole placements will need GPS monitoring.
“This change will make our communities safer and save taxpayers’ money in the long run by reducing recidivism and incarceration costs and avoiding the need to build more jails and prisons,” Armstrong said.
The DOCR is already seeing positive early results from GPS monitoring of those on inmate status in transitional facilities, DOCR Director Colby Braun said. The technology enables real-time supervision, verifies that individuals are at approved locations, and allows for a faster response to unauthorized movements or absconding.
Braun said without the GPS option, many individuals, particularly probation diversion placements, would likely enter prison or occupy high-cost county jail beds. North Dakota’s correctional system currently has more than 430 sentenced individuals being housed in county jails due to prison capacity limitations, he noted.
“With GPS monitoring, we are enhancing supervision and accountability, responding directly to legislative concerns raised last session, and strengthening community and victim safety while preserving access to work and treatment opportunities,” Braun said.
The six-member Emergency Commission consists of the governor as chairman, the secretary of state, the House and Senate majority leaders, and the House and Senate appropriations committee chairs.
The funding must also be approved by the Legislature’s Budget Section, which meets March 18. The DOCR anticipates requesting ongoing legislative funding next biennium to sustain GPS monitoring for all transitional and work release participants.