Latest news with #Milstead
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
2 task force members say prison, site must fit needs
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Several members of a prison task force said a new men's prison and its site need to fit the needs of staff and offenders. Task force member Republican Sen. Jim Mehlhaff said he doesn't want the state to pursue a project that fits only a few years with a need to address additional issues. 'If we do that, we've failed,' Mehlhaff said. A prison project is something the state wants to do every 50 to 100 years, he said. The task force is reviewing a study of the prison and recommendations to replace the existing men's prison in Sioux Falls. Consultant Arrington Watkins has done the study and one its recommendations is to build a 1,500 to 1,700 bed facility as soon as possible. The task force will also evaluate potential sites, narrow down those sites and the consultant will develop a plan based on those potential sites. The potential site includes a location in Lincoln County between Harrisburg and Canton that has received strong opposition. 'The existing prison is a horrible place for staff and inmates,' task force member Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken and Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum both said in a letter obtained by KELOLAND News Wednesday that they did not support possible sites in Sioux Falls. They did support the original site in Lincoln County and another possible site near Worthing. 'The one thing I'd say about sites, clearly, there is strong objection to the Lincoln County site,' Milstead said. Milstead described it as Not In My Backyard or NIMBY. He understands that those who are opposed may be living in lifetime rural homes or have had farms passed down through generations. And that they were surprised to learn a prison could be built in the area. Yet, 'If you looked at the sites in Sioux Falls, there are hundreds of not thousands who live in the general area,' Milstead said. He's heard 'significant strong' opposition to several sites in Sioux Falls from neighboring residents and businesses, Milstead said. Mehlhaff said some of the proposed sites will be easier to eliminate such as in Grant County near Big Stone City. 'That proposal is getting robust push back,' he said. Even so, the site is too far away, Mehlhaff said. For example, it's impractical and too far if inmates are transported from Pennington County, he said. He's also concerned about available workforce and medical services. Mehlhaff was asked specifically about the former Citibank site in Sioux Falls. Lawmaker and task force member Republican Sen. Chris Karr recently told South Dakota Searchlight that the Citibank property was 'almost turn-key.' 'In my mind there are a lot of hurdles before that becomes a viable option,' Mehlhaff said of the Citibank property. The property could provide for some prison needs but does not believe the buildings could be used for inmate housing, Mehlhaff said. '…it would not take care of all of our needs,' he said. The Arrington Watkins report also cited a 2023 law which requires offenders of certain violent crimes to serve 100% of their sentences and others to serve 85% of their sentences as a major factor in increasing the prison population. The report recommended the state build a second 1,700 project because of the expected increase in the prison population because of longer mandatory sentences. Milstead said it's too soon to estimate the impact of the 2023 law Senate Bill 246 called Truth in Sentencing. Before the 2023 law, judges may have sentenced an offender to 15 years and the offender may have only served two. Because of the 2023 judges may decide to sentence the offender to five years knowing they'd serve the full five or to two years knowing the offender would serve the full two years, Milstead said. Those scenarios would not necessarily increase the prison population, he said. Still, he said, the law's impact will need to be monitored, Milstead said. But, the task force is not responsible for recommending program changes or additions or to weigh in on policy, he said. The task force's role is to deal with the need for a prison, select a project and site to recommend to the Legislature, Milstead said. In a Tuesday KELOLAND News story, task force members Democrat Sen. Jamie Smith and Democrat Rep. Erin Healy said prison policies including the 2023 Senate Bill 246 law need to be studied. A prison may be needed but the state must also find ways to better prevent crime and improve chances at an offender's reentry in to the community, they said. A summer study is planned for prison policies and sentencing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Men arrested in Madison among dozens of immigrants detained in South Dakota
The Minnehaha County Jail in Sioux Falls on May 15, 2025. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) It's unknown how many immigrants have been held for removal in South Dakota since President Donald Trump took office in January promising mass deportations, but public jail rosters in the state show more than two dozen being held now. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told South Dakota Searchlight that arrest statistics will be updated soon. The most recent figures on its website are from December. A high-profile ICE operation Tuesday in Madison resulted in the arrests of eight people accused of being in the country without legal permission. Before that, ICE was already using jails in South Dakota as waystations for immigration actions more often since Trump took office, according to Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead. 'They're not only doing what's been reported on in Madison,' he said. 'They're doing investigations around the clock, with other federal agencies.' As of Thursday morning, there were 22 people detained at the Sioux Falls jail with pending immigration issues, according to Milstead, who said the figure can change by the hour as inmates come and go. About half of the current detainees with ICE holds came to the attention of immigration agents after being arrested on state-level criminal charges. The others arrived at the jail for removal actions alone, and Milstead said that activity has increased. Eight targeted in Madison immigration operation appear in federal court The jail holds federal inmates for both ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service, which oversees people accused of federal crimes, including those related to immigration. The feds pay the county $112 a day per federal inmate. People targeted by ICE for removal who don't have criminal charges can only be held at the jail in Sioux Falls for 72 hours before being transferred to an ICE detention facility, Milstead said. Those facilities are themselves local jails, but Sioux Falls is not designated as a long-term detention facility for ICE. Unlike inmates targeted for removal alone, inmates with ICE holds and criminal charges can stay in Sioux Falls until their case concludes. An inmate who comes in on an ICE hold and is later charged with a crime is transferred to the U.S. Marshals Service. 'If they're Marshals prisoners, we've held them for years sometimes,' Milstead said. Milstead's jail has cooperated with ICE for more than a decade as part of the agency's Secure Communities Program, under which participating local jails send booking fingerprints to both the FBI and ICE. The FBI uses the fingerprints to check for federal warrants and federal criminal charges. ICE checks for prior interactions with immigration agents. The Minnehaha County Jail also sends the names of every foreign-born detainee to be cross-checked for legal status by ICE's Criminal Alien Program. CONTACT US The jail has agreed to step up its cooperation. Milstead recently signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE, which will require some of his deputies to take about eight hours of training, after which they'll be able to serve ICE warrants for removal actions. There are several types of 287(g) agreements, all of which enable some measure of cross-deputization to allow local law enforcement to work on behalf of ICE. Milstead and Hughes County Sheriff Patrick Callahan, in Pierre, both signed up for the warrant service program through 287(g) this spring. It won't be a large change operationally in Sioux Falls, said Milstead, who expects to train around a dozen people. Inmates brought to the jail by ICE on removal proceedings have already been served removal warrants by ICE agents. Those who come to jail on criminal charges and are later alleged to be in the country illegally are served removal warrants by ICE agents after those agents obtain warrants from a judge. The Minnehaha County Jail's 287(g) agreement will allow trained deputies to serve those warrants, eliminating the need for an ICE agent to return to the jail for that purpose after asking for them. Callahan told South Dakota Searchlight he'll be the local officer trained to serve removal warrants. His jail has no inmates with immigration holds. Pennington County, South Dakota's second-largest county by population, had four inmates with ICE holds as of Thursday afternoon, spokesperson Helene Duhamel said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Carfentanil: 100 times stronger than fentanyl
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – A drug that was initially made to tranquilize animals like rhinos and elephants is now being seen in South Dakota. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, carfentanil is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times stronger than fentanyl. 'A lethal dose is about the size of a grain of salt,' Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said. 'Now it's made a resurgence and it's entering the U.S. once again, obviously extremely dangerous, very deadly, high risk of an overdose.' Why are the maple seed 'helicopters' pink? Milstead says even treatments like naloxone aren't guaranteed to work on someone who has ingested the drug. 'Things like naloxone or Narcan are less effective on carfentanil. It may take multiple doses at high rates and with not a likely good outcome. We hate to see it back, we haven't seen a lot of it. You know a couple of cases here,' Milstead said. According to authorities, there has been one death this year in Minnehaha County related to carfentanil. Prairie View Prevention Services is a local organization that works with young people to educate them on the dangers of drugs. 'I explained some of the side effects that we would see if someone were to be using it. A depressed respiratory system, losing consciousness and possibly death. And we see many more overdoses because of the potency and strength of that drug,' Prairie View Prevention Services founder Darcy Jensen said. Authorities and outreach programs both encourage those battling addiction to seek help. 'We need the public to know that and understand it, because if they've got a family member that's experimenting with these drugs, they're likely going to die,' Milstead said. 'Reaching out for help it's not something that you should feel guilty about or shame. It's the courage that it takes to reach out,' Jensen said. Prairie View Prevention Services offers free middle school meth education programming to all schools in South Dakota. According to the CDC, it saw about a 27% decrease in predicted drug overdose deaths in 2024 compared to 2023 in the United States. However, it also reported South Dakota saw about a 2% increase in predicted drug overdose deaths, and was one of two states in the country that saw an increase between those same years. In April, KELOLAND News spoke with the Omaha Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) about carfentanil. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Milstead: penitentiary reminds him of 'an above-ground dungeon'
SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — Throughout the week, we've been reporting on the meetings held by Governor Larry Rhoden's Project Prison Reset Task Force. And now, we're hearing from some of the members about their tour of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Wednesday's tour came as the task force explores more options about building a new men's prison, after funding for a Lincoln County facility failed to find support in the legislature. Descriptions of what they saw behind prison walls ranged from 'difficult,' to 'a dungeon.' Task force members respond after 2 days of prison talk Sheriff Mike Milstead has been inside the South Dakota Penitentiary multiple times during his decades in law enforcement. But Wednesday's four-hour tour of the pen was still eye-opening to him. 'In particular, the living conditions and the working conditions in the the old hill, or the old cells that you see when you're on North Drive. Almost reminded me like an above-ground dungeon,' Milstead said State Rep. Greg Jamison says checking out the conditions of the penitentiary almost became secondary to being in the presence of the inmates. 'I saw sadness, I saw humans depleted, I saw angry people. The building was one thing, I had seen parts of it before, but it was honestly, the human side of it that was the most striking of all,' Jamison said. State Rep. Erin Healy was one of just a handful of women on the tour, giving her a different perspective of life behind bars inside a men's prison. 'And seeing their bathroom and the places where they shower, I don't want to say uncomfortable, but just different,' Healy said. Both Healy and Jamison say the highlight of the tour was seeing the job training underway at the prison's Pheasantland Industries. 'And we saw some inmates working there. You can tell that they're so proud of the work that they do and they're happy to be there, they're learning skills that are going to be incredibly useful for them when they enter back into society,' Healy said. The task force members say seeing first-hand the stark conditions inside the penitentiary further underscores the need for a new men's prison. 'I don't really care where this new penitentiary is. Let's find the best space that will gather the most support,' Healy said. 'It's pretty hard to go through a building like that and think, okay, we can do better, we can have a safer place,' Jamison said. 'Seeing the living environment and the work environment there, was somewhat embarrassing as a South Dakotan, that we haven't done more earlier. So, I think this is the chance we have to change that,' Milstead said. Milstead says he's also given members of the task force tours of the Minnehaha County Jail that opened in 2003 and expanded in 2019. He says the goal is to give task force members an idea of what a state-of-the-art housing facility should look like. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Yahoo
Milstead recalls jail expansion amid prison restart
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — From inmate medical needs to staffing, the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Office has plenty to monitor as they work to improve operations at the Minnehaha County Jail. Members of the sheriff's office discussed what's going well and areas that need improvement during the Minnehaha County Commissioners meeting Tuesday. During Mike Milstead's time as Minnehaha County Sheriff, the current Jail was built and renovated, which gives Milstead unique insight for the Prison Project Reset task force launched by Governor Rhoden. Court Docs: Police shooting suspect stole guns 'It will be interesting to see, having gone through two major projects moving from an old, poorly designed facility into modern, efficient design and heavily utilizing technology, to see how that matches up at all with what we start working on with the prison reset group,' Milstead said. Another topic discussed by the sheriff's office was the high demand on the jail's medical staff. 'The medical need at the jail is historically high. That continues. With the population that comes in into the jail, there's not a whole lot of preventative care that goes on prior to coming to jail. While I say preventative care, there's really not a lot of care at all that goes on on the streets prior to coming to jail,' Minnehaha County Chief Deputy Sheriff Jeff Gromer said. While discussing the needs for people inside the jail, the sheriff's office also talked about what they're doing to keep people out of custody. 'Between our 24/7 program and our Pretrial Services Program today, we're monitoring more people outside of custody than we have in the county jail,' Milstead said. Minnehaha County Jail sees rise in violence 'We've done a really good job of developing and implementing programs that help us keep people out on the streets, so people that we can safely monitor and work through the system on the streets are not coming to jail,' Gromer said. 'They can continue to work, support their family, support the community, pay their taxes,' Milstead said. Milstead also says the number of inmates in jail is similar to what it was a year ago. In addition, the sheriff's office hired 43 new employees for the jail in 2024 with 38 of them still employed with them now. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
