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North Dakota has an incarceration rate of 596 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than many wealthy democracies do. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in North Dakota and why.

Are you looking for information on what jails and prisons in North Dakota are doing to stop COVID-19? See our regularly-updated coronavirus response page.

4,600 people from North Dakota are behind bars

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these North Dakota graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, North Dakota’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites, Hispanics, Blacks, and American Indians/Native Americans in North Dakota prisons and jails.

North Dakota's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

Our other articles about North Dakota

• We graded every state’s response to the coronavirus in prisons and jails. North Dakota got an F+
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - North Dakota gets an F-

Other resources

• Research on North Dakota in our Research Library