North Dakota Prisons and Jails Begin Rolling Out Jamestown-Led Reentry Programs

A faith-based reentry program developed at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facility in Jamestown is now spreading to county jails across North Dakota, as two sets of criminal justice measures passed by the state Legislature in early 2025 move into active implementation.

The program, called Shining Light, blends faith-based programming with humanities and creative activities. It has been in use at the Jamestown DOC facility and is now being introduced in McKenzie County, with additional grant-funded programs expected to be fully operational in late March or early April.

Demand from inmates has caught at least one administrator off guard. Werlinger, a corrections professional with 49 years of experience, said enrollment interest surpassed expectations. "I was shocked by the numbers that put in for Shining Light," Werlinger said. "So if that's an indicator, I'd say we're reaching the pinnacle of success because we've had so many enrolling or attempting to enroll."

The Shining Light rollout is one piece of a broader statewide effort. A separate diversion pilot, funded through House Bill 1425, directed $1 million to state's attorney's offices in Cass, Grand Forks and Stark counties. That funding helps prosecutors divert offenders to treatment or other services instead of jail, either before or after arrest, with supporters arguing it could reduce the number of people entering the criminal justice system for minor drug and other nonviolent offenses.

Jonathan Holth, North Dakota's first commissioner for recovery and reentry, framed the initiative in terms of systemic intervention rather than punishment. "We have an opportunity to help people become healthier, rather than getting trapped or caught in what can be a difficult-to-navigate criminal justice system," Holth said.

Despite the strong inmate interest in Shining Light and the legislative momentum behind both tracks of programming, state officials have described the overall rollout as slow. Communities are taking time to get programming right, according to reporting by the ND News Cooperative, and in at least one case an unspecified legal controversy has delayed a program's potential impact, though that situation may yet be resolved.

The two legislative tracks, one aimed at keeping low-level offenders out of the justice system through diversion, the other focused on preparing incarcerated people for release, reflect an approach centered on addressing root causes like mental health and addiction rather than relying solely on incarceration. With Jamestown's DOC facility having served as the proving ground for Shining Light, the city now stands as the origin point for one of the state's most visible reentry experiments as it scales outward.