Davison County board, sheriff discuss long-term need for a new county jail
The topic was a discussion item on May 27 as the commissioners went through the county sheriff's 2026 budget.
"It's not uncommon to see pieces of concrete coming off of walls," Davison County Sheriff Steve Harr said. "We're very well known in South Dakota amongst law enforcement and inmates that we have the worst jail in South Dakota. It's seen its day."
The current facility is located at 1015 S. Miller Ave., one that the county has used for a jail for nearly 30 years.
The county purchased the former Methodist hospital in the early 1990s and repurposed a portion of it move the jail from the Davison County Courthouse in 1996. Other elements of the building date back further and the county has had to regularly update the building's mechanical equipment in recent years to keep the building operational. The jail has a maximum capacity of 72 inmates but Harr said the realistic capacity is closer to 60 inmates at once.
The current Davison County facility has one big positive that the county doesn't want to lose. It has the sheriff's office, jail and courtroom facilities all in one building, which makes transportation of inmates much easier and the overall administration of courts and corrections move smoothly.
"It's going to be an expensive project when we get to it," Harr said. "Expensive probably isn't the right word for it."
Harr said he's received a standing offer from Minnehaha County to tour their corrections facility, which was expanded in 2020 to add 320 inmate beds to bring the total to more than 700.
Harr would like the commissioners to see the Lawrence County facility near Deadwood, which was completed earlier this year and took more than two years to complete. The commissioners discussed taking a potential field trip to the current Davison County Jail and to Sioux Falls around upcoming meetings to learn more about its needs.
Harr said one potential plan to help fund the new facility would be to accept federal inmates. That's something the county can't currently do because it doesn't have the space.
A site south of Mitchell is among the possible sites being discussed by a state panel that is looking at building a new state prison, with Mitchell offering the land last month. The commissioners,
in a previous meeting, were supportive of that idea
, although their own jail needs would almost certainly require a separate project.
"I'm still pro getting a prison and putting a little lean-to (building) on it for the county," Commissioner Chris Nebelsick joked about the two potential projects.
Commissioner John Claggett said he hopes the county project would be less than the Mitchell High School project, which is nearly $70 million and will be completed later this year.
"It won't be," Commissioner Denny Kiner said of Claggett's price hopes being low.
"The problem is we're doing a new school, we're spending $15 million on the lake and everyone is just spent right now," Nebelsick said. "And people are going to be asking about a jail but I'm out in the public telling everyone I see that we need a new jail. Anybody that knows me knows me, knows we need a jail and knows why."
Harr said a potential collaboration with the city of Mitchell on a new public safety building should also be considered, he said, with a city-county partnership that has become increasingly more frequent in communities in South Dakota and around the Midwest.
"It's probably a conversation to have with the city, as well, to have one modern facility rather than two rundown buildings," Harr said.
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