Lawmakers talk about roles on new prison task force

Yahoo

28-02-2025

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The Legislature's two Republican floor leaders say they're ready to be part of the governor's new advisory council that will work on recommending how the outdated South Dakota State Penitentiary should be replaced.
Sen. Jim Mehlhaff and Rep. Scott Odenbach are among the 22 members of the task force, dubbed Project Prison Reset, that Governor Larry Rhoden unveiled on Thursday.
Rhoden on prison location: 'Everything on the table'
The Republican governor's announcement came after a proposed 1,500-bed men's prison that was planned for Lincoln County south of Sioux Falls was unable to find sufficient support in the state House of Representatives last week.
KELOLAND News spoke to Odenbach and Mehlhaff about being members of the task force.
'It's a big responsibility,' Odenbach said. 'I don't think it's an opportunity, it's a responsibility that we have, and I have to give kudos to the governor for taking a hard look at the vote and the lack of support that there was in the legislative branch and saying, 'Okay, let's hit the reset button, let's find a way to move forward on a huge item.'
'I understand it's a priority,' Odenbach continued, 'Everybody has consensus, I think we need to do something about our prison facilities.'
The task force will gather on April 2 for the first time, right after the Legislature wraps up its 2025 regular session on March 31. The governor in his executive order establishing the group said there will be at least four meetings and set a July 15 deadline for recommendations to be issued and legislation proposed. Rhoden told reporters he plans to call a special legislative session for July 22.
'It's a tight timeline, as you know, that he's laid out for us to do this,' Odenbach said. 'But we'll give it our best shot to take another look at it and get a good result for the taxpayers.'The House has a lot of new members.'
Odenbach spoke about the many new members in the House. 'Like any new person that comes to the Legislature, they want to take a fresh set of eyes to the problems that they see that we're facing. And so a huge capital expenditure project like this is by necessity is generally going to be something that was worked on over a series of years, and with term limits we have a whole new crop of people coming in every couple of years here, and so was part of it, the no votes. There was a lot of returning members who voted no as well, for a variety of reasons.'
One of those red no votes on the House board came from Odenbach. Asked why, he said, 'Because I had some concerns about the ongoing cost of this project as well as the one-time cost, of course.'
The guaranteed maximum price for the Lincoln County proposal was $825 million. That expires on March 31. Corrections Secretary Kelli Wasko told lawmakers that the annual operational costs would rise from about $34 million currently to about $56 million, an increase of some 60%.
Odenbach said there were other reasons too. 'I listened close to people who live down in that area, (they) had significant concerns. I just think that this opportunity we have now is a good one, and we need to take another look at this, draw a line in the sand and hope we get buy-in from the legislative branch, and the governor has said, start looking forward on this.'
The task force meetings will be open to the public. Locations for those meetings aren't yet set. Rhoden wants the group to come up with a possible answer in five months and have the Legislature's two chambers then deliver the two-thirds majorities — 47 in the House and 24 in the Senate — that are needed for passage.
'Well, we'll see,' Odenbach said in response to a question of whether that's long enough. 'Yeah, it's an aggressive timeline as far as maybe understanding the need for doing something different. But I do think it's going to be helpful to do this and try to get buy-in from the legislative branch on something where you need a two-thirds vote — we've got to do it.'
Because the first move on the Lincoln County plan was up to the House, Mehlhaff as Senate Republican leader could only watch.
'Well, I'm honored to be selected to do that job,' Mehlhaff said about being named to the new task force. 'It's an important job, but I am a little disheartened that it's a job that needs to be done at this point, because I'm concerned we're going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money as a result of having to go around and re-look at this.'
How much more?
'The estimates are, with the inflation cost, $34 million, I think this year,' Mehlhaff said. 'But depending on where we wind up, if we move somewhere else, or go with a different design, I think it will go well beyond that and push us over $900 million.'
Can the Senate deliver the two-thirds majority?
'I think that's going to be a test of leadership,' Mehlhaff said. 'The task force we have is staffed with folks on both sides of the issue, those who supported the current plan and those who had a lot of questions about it. So I think it's important that we build consensus among the task force and it's going to take a real test of our leadership to get it through both chambers.'
Was going back to step one the right move by the governor?
'Well, unfortunately, I don't think the governor had any choice,' Mehlhaff said. 'We clearly have an issue that needs to be addressed with the current prison. I think most of us who are on the task force have toured the current prison, and it's clear that what we have is, it's not adequate for not only just housing our prisoners — they're not housed the way they should be — and we're certainly not able to complete any rehabilitation services in the physical plant that we currently have.'
He added, 'I think we need to work quickly. We need to be serious about this issue. It's something that the taxpayers are depending on us doing a good job and getting it done quickly and moving forward.'
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