Rough Rider Industries

10/20/2026

🚧 Another Sandbag Season in the Books! 🚧

RRI filled 60,000 sandbags this year, making it one of our busiest seasons yet! As construction season winds down, we want to thank our partners who help keep North Dakota’s construction zones safe.

These sandbags help secure signage and construction barriers and are shipped to communities across every corner of the state.

A big thank-you to 3D Specialties, Traffic Safety Services, Inc. (TSS), NorthStar Safety, Inc. , and Newman Signs, Inc. for another successful season and for their continued partnership with RRI!

Workforce. Opportunity. North Dakota.

10/07/2026

Building a Career Through the Skilled Trades

Many individuals who enter the correctional system have previous experience working in the skilled trades or have participated in a Registered Apprenticeship Program.

Registered Apprenticeships provide a unique pathway to a career—combining paid, on-the-job training with classroom education and industry-recognized skills. It is an opportunity to earn while you learn and build a career that can provide long-term stability.

Recently, RRI partnered with NDSP to bring Jason Ehlert, President of the North Dakota's Building Trades Unions, to speak with our residents about apprenticeship and career opportunities within the Building Trades.

The North Dakota Building Trades represent 15 skilled craft disciplines, including electricians, plumbers and pipefitters, carpenters, iron workers, operating engineers, laborers, sheet metal workers, bricklayers, roofers and many others.

These are skilled professions that provide real career opportunities and pathways to continued training and advancement. The demand for skilled workers continues across North Dakota and throughout the country.

For RRI, opportunities like this are an important part of Preparing Quality People—giving residents information, skills and connections that can help them build a successful career when they return to their communities.

RRI and the DOCR would like to thank Jason for taking the time to share this valuable career information with our residents and for helping open the door to new possibilities.

10/01/2026

09/28/2026

It’s that time of year again when trade organizations across North Dakota host their annual conferences and tradeshows—and last week was a busy one for RRI!

We had double the fun with the North Dakota Recreation & Park Association conference in Dickinson (City of Dickinson, ND Local Government) and the North Dakota League of Cities conference in Grand Forks (City of Grand Forks - Government).

RRI Sales Executives Dustin Brendel and Francis Greff always enjoy connecting with our customers, visiting with longtime business partners, and meeting new people. These events also generated some great new business leads for RRI.

We’re grateful for the continued support of our customers, business partners, and trade organizations that help us build strong relationships and showcase what RRI has to offer.

Every connection helps support RRI’s rehabilitative mission and our commitment to providing meaningful work and employability skills to residents preparing to return to their communities.

Thank you for supporting RRI! Workforce. Opportunity. North Dakota.

09/17/2026

Every great product starts with an idea. At RRI, we turn those ideas into reality.

Prototyping is an important part of what we do at Rough Rider Industries. Right now, our team is working on a custom athletic locker prototype designed to bring functionality, durability, and a few extra bells and whistles together in one system.

This prototype features:

🏈 Built-in shoulder pad and helmet storage
🔐 Combination-locking doors with a specialized hinging system
💨 Ventilated storage beneath the upholstered seating area
💡 Optional accessory lighting
🎨 Customized graphics to showcase team colors, logos, names, numbers, and branding

And we’re not done yet.

That’s the beauty of prototyping. Build it. Test it. Make adjustments. Improve it. Repeat. The design will continue to evolve as our team works through the details and looks for ways to make the finished product even better.

What makes this project particularly rewarding is that RRI residents are involved throughout the process—from design and fabrication to assembly, delivery, and installation. It’s hands-on experience that develops real technical and employability skills.

Looking for an athletic locker solution for your school or team? Stop by the RRI showroom and see the many locker options and custom solutions our team has created.

At RRI, an idea is just the beginning.

09/11/2026

At RRI, we’re committed to keeping library spaces fresh, functional, and forward-thinking. Our goal is to offer products that not only meet today’s expectations for durability and modern design, but also help shape the libraries of tomorrow.

Pictured are early prototypes of some of our newest youth-focused furniture concepts. These curved bookstands with integrated seating are just one example of how innovative design can create engaging, comfortable spaces that encourage curiosity and discovery.

From concept to craftsmanship, the RRI team brings creativity, skill, and experience together to turn ideas into reality.

If you can dream it, RRI can build it!

North Dakota Library Association

09/04/2026

Working the assembly line. Effective communication. Teamwork. Problem-solving.

These are all soft skills being developed every day at Rough Rider Industries (RRI).

On this particular day, members of the RRI installation team worked together to assemble a large order of seating chair kits. But their work didn’t stop at assembly. The team then prepared the order for delivery, staged it in a holding area, loaded it onto a delivery truck, and ultimately delivered it to the customer.

Sound familiar? It should.

This is very similar to the workflow found in a warehouse, manufacturing, or distribution position in the free world. The difference is that our residents have the opportunity to experience each step of the process—from production and organization to teamwork, logistics, loading, transportation, and customer service.

Employers consistently tell us that soft skills are among the most important—and often missing—skills in today’s workforce.

Technical skills, or “hard skills,” may help get you in the door, but strong people skills help you keep that door open and create opportunities for advancement.

Soft skills aren’t something that can simply be taught in a classroom and checked off a list. They are developed through experience, practice, feedback, and repetition—and they continue to evolve throughout a person’s lifetime.

At RRI, residents have opportunities to develop skills such as:

• Dependability
• Effective communication
• Teamwork
• Problem-solving
• Creativity
• Adaptability
• Organization
• Open-mindedness
• Accountability
• A willingness to learn

These are workforce skills that employers value—and they are skills being practiced every day at RRI.

We’re not just making products. We’re helping people build life skills for what comes next.

09/01/2026

Sometimes our products are a little larger than life!

Resident Ryan—better known around RRI as “Redwood Ryan”—stands 6’4”. The one-piece cabinet he and members of our Delivery & Installation Team are standing next to is 8 feet tall and will soon be part of the new women’s prison currently under construction.

Projects this size come with their own challenges. Getting an 8-foot cabinet through doorways and elevators takes careful planning, while maneuvering and installing something this large without causing damage requires a skilled team. Even getting these oversized cabinets safely loaded into our delivery trucks presents its own challenges.

And believe it or not, this isn’t even our tallest one-piece cabinet! We have another one in the warehouse waiting for delivery that stands nearly a foot taller.

Customized projects like this are one of the many things that set Rough Rider Industries apart. Our ability to build to unique specifications allows us to meet our customers’ needs while providing residents with valuable, hands-on experience in order preparation, loading, transportation, delivery and installation—all while working on real-world projects.

Big cabinets. Big projects. Big opportunities to build skills for the future.

08/18/2026

Rough Rider Industries (RRI) oversees approximately 3,400 acres of DOCR pasture and cropland across Burleigh and Morton Counties. Through partnerships, we work to be responsible stewards of the land, including utilizing cattle, horses, and sheep for tall-grass and w**d control. 🐄🐑

Our resident work team is completing a multi-year project to replace the fence around a roughly 1,200-acre parcel, installing new fence posts and barbed wire across challenging terrain and North Dakota weather.

Fencing is a valuable skill with real employment opportunities in ranching and agriculture—and can even provide a pathway to self-employment.

RRI thanks our staff and resident workers for their hard work and dedication to completing this impressive project!

08/10/2026

Rough Rider Industries recently celebrated our annual Resident Appreciation Cookout at our JRCC and MRCC locations.

At JRCC, we were honored to welcome former resident Bradley Davis as our guest speaker. Brad shared an inspiring message about his incarceration, his reentry journey, and the life-changing decisions that have led to his success today. He also spoke about the positive influence that staff and Rough Rider Industries had on his path forward.

Today, Brad is a successful entrepreneur and has come full circle—from sitting in the audience listening to guest speakers during his incarceration to standing in front of residents as one himself. His message of accountability, perseverance, and hope resonated with both staff and residents.

Stories like Brad's remind us why the work we do matters. There is no better measure of success than seeing one of our "finished products"—our people—return to their communities as productive, responsible citizens. Thank you, Brad, for taking the time to invest in those who are following the path you once walked.