Prison drug smuggling ring busted, state corrections officials say
A photo taken at 3 a.m. on March 29, 2024, shows interior lights in the South Dakota State Penitentiary's East Hall. The lights stayed on after a night of unrest. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
Following a protest in response to a string of violence and deaths at state prisons and amid continuing talks about potential prison construction, South Dakota officials say they've busted a ring of drug smuggling in prison facilities and imposed a non-contact visit policy.
No drug charges have been filed, according to a Thursday news release from the state Department of Corrections, which said an investigation is ongoing involving its Inspector General's Office, the state Division of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. postmaster general.
'If the results of the investigation warrant prosecution, criminal charges will be sought,' the news release said. 'We will continue to counter every attempt to introduce dangerous contraband into our facilities.'
10 injured in prison violence days after protests over security and inmate treatment
The news release said three methods of drug delivery into prisons were identified and stopped:
Through the use of counterfeit packages imitating well-known manufacturers with drugs sent in through the packages.
Through false use of the privileged mail system, such as counterfeit legal mail.
And through the actions of visitors, including family members and friends, bringing drugs into the prison during visitation.
The press release went on to say that three inmate deaths — one in February and two this month — were linked to drug overdoses on the penitentiary campus in Sioux Falls.
The Department of Corrections has also imposed non-contact visits for family and friends of inmates 'in certain facilities,' the press release said. It also said 'non-contact visits may be expanded to other prison facilities' and 'additional policy changes are also under review.'
'We wanted to ensure that the public is aware of the work that has been done in these cases. We are taking action to keep staff and inmates safe,' said a quote in the news release from Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko.
The drug investigation is occurring against the backdrop of activism against prison conditions and inmate treatment, including a protest Friday by about 50 people. Meanwhile, the state's Project Prison Reset task force is considering plans to construct new prison facilities. The group's next meeting is Tuesday in Pierre.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Washington Post
Ex-police chief and murderer who fled prison is captured, authorities say
A former Arkansas police chief who escaped from prison while serving time on murder and rape convictions was captured Friday after tracking dogs picked up his scent, officials said. Grant Hardin, who served in the top police job in Gateway, Arkansas, was found in Izard County, about a mile and a half from the facility he escaped on May 25, the Arkansas Department of Corrections said. His identity was confirmed by fingerprint analysis.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
As Trump now knows and Doeden may learn, the governing is harder than the shake-up
Toby Doeden announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of South Dakota during an event on May 28, 2025, in Aberdeen. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) And then there were two. In late May, Aberdeen businessman and political influencer Toby Doeden entered the race for the Republican nomination for governor of South Dakota. He joins state Speaker of the House Jon Hansen as the only announced candidates, so far, for the nomination. Throughout his announcement speech, and sprinkled liberally through his campaign website, are references to Doeden's support for President Donald Trump. It's hard to miss the comparisons between the president and the gubernatorial candidate. Doeden takes pride, as Trump did in his first campaign, at never having been elected to public office. Doeden, however, knows something about how to get other people elected. Through his Dakota First Action political action committee, he supported a bevy of anti-establishment Republicans who were able to unseat legislative incumbents in the last primary. While Doeden sees his lack of electoral experience as a positive, voters always run a risk when they decide to put someone in a position of power who has never been there before. In his first term as president, Trump often seemed befuddled by the finer points of how the federal government works. For Doeden, promising to shake things up in Pierre is the easy part. Harder than the shaking is the governing. Doeden joins race for governor with pledge to eliminate property taxes While he's shaking things up in Pierre, Doeden has promised to cut spending from a state government budget that he sees as bloated. That made it seem odd when among his first pronouncements as a candidate was the creation of not one but two new state agencies. He has proposed to create the South Dakota Department of External Revenue to find new revenue sources for the state and the South Dakota Department of Government Efficiency, which sounds eerily like Elon Musk's DOGE. We can only hope that Doeden's version of DOGE has a lighter touch than the Trump/Musk version, which is prone to cutting government by sending in a lumberjack to do work that was best suited for a surgeon. Much of DOGE's work and Trump's attempts to shrink the federal government have ended up in court battles that haven't been winners for the president. Doeden's version of his personal history seems to play off the Trump-inspired myth that people who have made a fortune can relate to the problems and challenges faced by the rest of us. Doeden touts his hardscrabble youth, something that Trump never had, as a way to connect with voters. Yet Doeden faces the same ironic set of circumstances as Trump, touting personal success that won't make him subservient to donors all the while that his website welcomes donations. That suggests that somehow candidates like Doeden and Trump are better suited to lead us because they're rich, yet their wealth doesn't keep them from asking for our money. In his announcement, Doeden railed against career politicians, the likes of which have yet to enter the race for the Republican nomination. Widely speculated as potential candidates are Gov. Larry Rhoden, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and Attorney General Marty Jackley. Hansen hails from the same populist wing of the party as Doeden, which runs the risk of them splitting the primary vote from that group. It will be Doeden's challenge to get Republican voters to choose his brand of populism over Hansen's. He'll need to do that while getting them to cast aside the established leaders who have devoted their lives to building up government. To be successful, Doeden will have to convince voters that it's in their best interest to let him tear it all down. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Karr, Smith evaluate task force's work thus far
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Senators Chris Karr and Jamie Smith of Sioux Falls are on opposite sides of the political isle in South Dakota's capital of Pierre, but with regard to Project Prison Reset's task force, they have similar evaluations. 'Being able to have the public input has been very important,' Smith, a Democrat, said Thursday. 'I think the first thing is transparency for all of us and being able to let the people know what's happening, let them voice their opinion and then make our decisions based upon the input that we've had from other people. I think that's gone really, really well.' Minnehaha County jail seeing more arrested by ICE 'It's been a transparent process,' Karr, a Republican, said Thursday. 'It's been inclusive. We've had great testimony from inmates to the public from different contractors that have stepped forward to give us their professional opinion on construction. I think this is what should have taken place the first time.' Project Prison Reset has just one more meeting before a special session of the state legislature learns about their recommendations for where and how big to build a new men's prison in South Dakota. Gov. Larry Rhoden launched the task force in the wake of the legislative failure to fund a new men's prison in Lincoln County between Harrisburg and Canton. Now, the task force has endorsed a plan for one or more locations at existing DOC facilities or in the Mitchell or Worthing areas. The cap for this plan is $600 million. But for Smith and Karr, it's not just about incarceration. 'What we don't want to do is cut corners, not include space that's needed for maybe programming, for education, for those technical trades,' Karr said. 'For educational opportunities, for treatment options, for mental health, all of those things have to be accounted for in the design that we do and what we build,' Smith said. 'Because ultimately, most of these people will get out of prison.' Project Prison Reset's task force is set to meet for the final time on July 8, and a special session of the state legislature is planned for July 22 when lawmakers can learn about the group's recommendations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
