The Dakota Women’s Correctional Rehab Center (DWCRC) in New England, North Dakota, is an unassuming building that looks more like a school than a prison were it not for the barbed wire fencing surrounding the sprawling building. Situated in the rolling hills of a small agricultural town, the prison grounds include large gardens where the women residents grow fresh vegetables used in their daily meals. The facility houses around 140 women at any given time and includes Haven Hall, a minimum security housing unit, and Horizon Hall, a medium and maximum security housing unit.
In early August, GN-IP staff attorney Jim Mayer and director of communications & community outreach Hayley Drozdowski-Poxleitner traveled the eight hours to New England from Minneapolis to present about GN-IP’s services to the women at DWCRC. Adam Martin, GN-IP board member and CEO of the F5 Project, a nonprofit based out of Fargo that provides services and mentorship to formerly incarcerated people struggling with addiction recovery, joined Jim and Hayley.
After going through a security check, COVID-19 rapid testing, surrendering any personal items to a guard, and receiving a visitor’s badge, the GN-IP team gathered in a small room resembling a classroom along with the DWCRC treatment services director Kelli Krieg and awaited the first audience. The women from Horizon Hall shuffled in chatting with one another, but quickly quieted down after taking a seat. The momentary uncertain silence broke when Hayley popped open the box of Walmart donuts that Kelli brought in for the occasion. The women of Horizon Hall preferred the chocolate frosted.
This prison is the only women’s prison in North Dakota. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are 155 women incarcerated in North Dakota per 100,000 women in the state. In the United State as a whole, the rate is 133 women per 100,000. Research by the Vera Institute of Justice found that the rate of women in North Dakota prisons increased dramatically between 1978 and 2017—from only two women in prison in 1978 to 197 in 2017. That is a 98-fold increase.
As was reflected in the demographics of the women who attended both GN-IP presentations, Native American women are disproportionately incarcerated compared to their total of the North Dakota population. In a data project from Recidiviz produced in collaboration with the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR), statistics show that Native Americans are 5.1 times more likely than their white counterparts to be under DOCR control. In other words, while Native Americans make up just over four percent of North Dakota’s population, they make up just over 21 percent of the population of people under DOCR control.
In the meetings at DWCRC, Adam detailed his experience in recovery and as a formerly incarcerated person who now runs a thriving nonprofit offering support and mentorship to people in situations like he once found himself and where many of the women in the room also had been. Jim and Hayley explained what the Great North Innocence Project is and what services are available. The GN-IP presentation shared at every prison outreach event highlights that GN-IP’s services are for people with legitimate claims of “actual innocence,” meaning that the applicant played no role in the crime they were convicted of whatsoever, and that our services are always free of charge. We emphasize that if someone is uncertain about whether their case fits within our service criteria, they should apply anyway.
In staff attorney Jim Mayer’s words, “I would rather have 100 guilty people apply than have one innocent person not apply.”
We also share that beyond litigating cases, GN-IP pushes for policy change in the criminal legal space to prevent wrongful convictions from occurring in the future and conducts public education about the causes and consequences of wrongful convictions.
The first presentation went smoothly, and most of the women picked up applications for services, some taking multiples expressing that they’d like to share one with a friend who didn’t attend the presentation. The second group of women was slightly larger and came from Haven Hall. Like the first group, the women came in chatting and laughing, clearly having formed friendships during their stay at DWCRC. They also enjoyed the donuts, but this group overwhelmingly preferred glaze. The majority of women in this group also took applications and mentioned having friends who couldn’t attend but who would be interested in learning about GN-IP’s services.
In both presentations, the ladies asked many questions about both the F5 Project and GN-IP. From Adam, they wanted to learn about housing opportunities for women after release, recovery mentorship and support, and employment pathways. Some were interested in going to school to become addiction counselors themselves after being positively impacted by their own addiction counselors.
About GN-IP’s services, the women had several questions. One person wanted to know, “do you take applications for people with shorter sentences or who have been released, but still face consequences from their convictions?” The answer is, sometimes. While we focus our limited resources on cases where a person has a long sentence, we will consider taking on other cases if there is particularly compelling new evidence supporting innocence and we have the capacity to do so.
Another woman wanted to know more about the need for new evidence in a case for GN-IP to accept it. We shared that, generally it’s true that when we review applications and conduct case investigations, we are looking for new evidence that can prove an applicant’s innocence. Such evidence may include untested DNA, a recanting witness or accuser, new evidence of an alibi, or developments in science that debunk an investigative technique used for the conviction, among other things.
Finally, the women asked about referrals for other services if GN-IP is unable to accept their case. We shared that we always try to offer referrals when we turn down a case application and emphasized that when we say “no,” it does not necessarily mean that we do not believe an applicant or that there has not been an unusually harsh sentence. It just means that we do not see an avenue to demonstrate actual innocence that meets the high judicial standards required, or that the case is out of our narrow service parameters. Currently, we are collaborating with a wonderful volunteer to build up our referral database so that we can offer other avenues for applicants to pursue if GN-IP is unable to assist them.
Overall, the experience was a positive step towards greater engagement and outreach to incarcerated people in GN-IP’s three-state service area. While Jim and Hayley presented only a couple of weeks ago, GN-IP has already received two new applications as a result of these presentations. Future presentations are in the works for prisons in Minnesota, South Dakota, and others in North Dakota.