Latest news with #SDDOC
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Public safety alert issued for ‘dangerous subject' at large
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – The Roberts County Sheriff's Office is issuing a public safety alert for a dangerous subject that's still at large. The Roberts County Sheriff's Office is investigating a violent incident that took place on Wednesday at a convenience store, involving suspect Jordan Biddell Jr., who's currently wanted in connection with armed robbery and assault. Delivery driver arrested for DUI nearly 5 times over limit According to a Facebook post from authorities, Biddell entered the convenience store at 12 p.m., attempted to purchase alcohol, and pointed a black, revolver-style BB gun at the store clerk, demanding money. When the clerk didn't comply, Biddell struck him in the face with the weapon and fired multiple BB rounds, injuring the clerk. Surveillance footage and witness statements confirm Biddell's involvement. The Roberts County Sheriff's Office is urging that if you see Biddell, to not approach him, and call 911 or contact the Roberts County Sheriff's Office at (605) 698-7667. Information gathered indicates Biddell may still be in the Sisseton area or possibly heading towards the Sioux Falls area. At the time of the incident, Biddell was on parole with the SDDOC for: Unauthorized Ingestion of a Controlled Substance Driving While Intoxicated (4th Offense) Grand Theft Over $2,500 Burglary in the Third Degree Intentional Damage to Property ($1,000–$2,500) Due to the nature of the incident, Biddell has been added to South Dakota's Most Wanted Parole Absconder's list. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Work group aims to ditch baggage, find solutions in prison talks
A rendering of a new men's prison proposed for an area of Lincoln County about 15 miles south of Sioux Falls, presented to state lawmakers on Nov. 14, 2024. The complex would house about 1,500 inmates. (Courtesy of SD DOC) Members of a prison work group say they'll need to leave the past in the past if they expect to find consensus on new facilities for the state's correctional system. There's plenty to leave behind, they acknowledge. Gov. Larry Rhoden wanted lawmakers to greenlight a 1,500-bed, $825 million men's prison in Lincoln County during this year's legislative session. He needed support from two-thirds of them. He didn't get it. Governor relents, appoints task force to reset prison talks after legislative loss That proposal's critics — some of whom now serve on the work group — complained about a lack of transparency, as well as the price tag, facility size and the plan's focus on a single site. Backers, meanwhile, argued that waiting will only cost taxpayers money. The $825 million price tag was guaranteed through Monday. Money questions will loom large. Lawmakers have set aside nearly $600 million for prison construction since 2023, and the state's already spent $55 million on the Lincoln County prison plan. The work group has four planned meetings between now and July. The first, a two-day affair in Sioux Falls, begins Wednesday morning. State Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, a work group member, backed the Lincoln County site during the legislative session. He said it'll be hard to 'unlearn things,' start fresh, and accept that the road may — or may not — lead back to Lincoln County. The conversation might end, he said, with 'boy, we really screwed up when we wasted all that money on that Lincoln County site.' 'If everybody's going in there with the preconceived notion of where we're going to wind up, it's going to be pretty difficult to reach consensus,' Mehlhaff said. The Rhoden executive order that created the 'Project Prison Reset' work group lists three goals: decide if the state needs a new facility, work with a consultant to figure out its size and location, and report findings to a special legislative session on July 22. Wednesday's meeting starts with a morning tour of the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls, the 1881 structure the proposed Lincoln County prison was meant to largely replace. A tour of the Lincoln County site, located 14 miles south of Sioux Falls, will start at 2 p.m. CONTACT US The penitentiary tour is not open to the media or the public 'for security and logistical' reasons, the meeting agenda says. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, who will chair the work group, said there are too many people already to add media to the mix. The media will be able to tour the penitentiary in the weeks between now and July 22, Venhuizen told Searchlight. 'We're very open to the idea of, at some point, coordinating another tour for media members,' Venhuizen said, adding that he'd need to check in with Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko to find a suitable time. The group's first session will continue Thursday at 8 a.m. at the Military Heritage Alliance in Sioux Falls with a series of informational sessions on inmate job training, behavioral health, prison industries and re-entry programs. A public comment period will start at 12:30 p.m. that day. Neighbors to the site of the now-paused prison project sued the state because it didn't ask for the county's permission to build there. They lost at the local level, and the state Supreme Court heard arguments on their appeal last week. The plaintiffs are constituents of House Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, R-Canton, who voted against funding the project this year. She's also appeared at the group's public events. She's now one of 11 lawmakers on the 22-member work group. The $55 million spent on that site gives Lems heartburn. Lawmakers approved $62 million for prison planning in 2024, but Lems said the executive branch spent more than it should've, given that the Lincoln County site lacked a final legislative blessing. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Lems is encouraged that Rhoden's office has committed to a 'palms up' process for the meetings, and that the group's been advised to 'start from scratch.' But 'the Lincoln County site is out there' and will need to be addressed. 'I don't want to be the NIMBY person,' Lems said, using an acronym for 'not in my backyard.' 'But I do want to have a site that actually makes sense.' Lems argues that some of the money spent for the site, such as the funds used to buy a stake in electrical and rural water infrastructure, won't be completely wasted if the state can find a better plan. The rural customers will still benefit, she said. The site 'makes no sense to me at all,' she said. Rhoden called the site near Sioux Falls 'a gift from God' because the state already owned the land, and because of its relative proximity to the interstate. More than once during the 2025 session, Mehlhaff called on lawmakers to avoid 'analysis paralysis' on the prison issue. The state hired a consultant, the DLR Group, to review its prison needs in 2021. A small group of lawmakers digested the findings and recommended a 1,500-bed prison the following summer, adopting the guidance of the Department of Corrections on the best path forward. There's broad agreement that the state needs to do something, he said — and fast — to ease the overcrowding issues dissected throughout that report, he said. 'I'm going to be focused on finding a solution rather than focusing on finding a problem that prevents us from finding a solution,' Mehlhaff said. 'You can go down that rabbit hole, and that's what was done before.' Some opponents to the Lincoln County plan have zeroed in on the DLR report's recommendations for multiple, smaller facilities across the state. Lawmakers funded a medium-security women's prison in Rapid City nearly three years ago based on that report, and construction on that $87 million facility is ongoing. Mehlhaff's not convinced that smaller facilities for male inmates would make more sense than a centralized location. 'If you spread them out among four different places, you'll have to duplicate programming, you'll have to duplicate food service, you'll have to duplicate prison industries,' he said, but added that he and every other member needs to be ready to hold preconceived notions in abeyance. 'We're supposed to be taking a fresh look at it, right?' Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls, led an effort to rename the Department of Corrections the 'Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation' during the legislative session. The pitch sailed through the Senate but failed in the House of Representatives. Smith, now a work group member, had hoped a name change would set a tone for the department. There is programming now, but Smith said the ideal is a department that focuses as much on preparing inmates to succeed on the outside as it does on housing them. Name change for Department of Corrections falls flat on SD House floor Smith said he intends to honor the group's three stated goals, but hopes issues surrounding rehabilitation and finding ways to reduce the state's long-term need for prison beds are in the mix. 'I do believe that we need to make sure that is the focus, and ultimately what we're trying to do,' Smith said. House Minority Leader Erin Healy, of Sioux Falls, is the work group's other Democrat. She's concerned about crowding and security in the 1881 facility. She got a letter recently from a Sioux Falls inmate concerned about safety in the current building, as well as a lack of access to rehabilitation and their ability to 'live a dignified life.' During her last tour of the penitentiary, locked-down inmates let loose similar concerns as lawmakers walked by. 'They know that if you are with Secretary Wasko, you're probably somebody who's making decisions for them or our state,' Healy said. 'That's kind of what I witnessed last time.' The current penitentiary's condition is top of mind for Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead as he prepares for the first work group meeting. He works closely with the DOC as the elected overseer of a county jail that serves as a pretrial waystation for future penitentiary inmates or parolees nabbed and detained for violations. Milstead has questions about the price tag and the DLR report's alternative options, but said 'the aging facility up on top of the hill is in need of replacing.' In 1998, the sheriff had a similar problem on his hands, though 'on a much smaller scale.' His jail was old, inefficient and dangerous, he said, so he went to the public to ask for support. The Argus Leader newspaper's photographers and cameras from local TV stations were invited to visit. That gave Milstead a chance to make the case that a new jail, built with room to expand in the future, would be preferable to upgrades at the old one. Parole officers create specialty unit to target parolees in hiding 'I am so glad we did not try to cobble together the old jail above the public safety building,' Milstead said. Yankton Police Chief Jason Foote heads the South Dakota Police Chiefs' Association. He'll represent local law enforcement on the work group. He's hoping to learn more about how the DOC's crowded facilities and operations might play into the system's handling of the parolees his officers deal with regularly. He wants parolees held accountable for their actions, he said, which 'can be pretty severe.' Law enforcement 'has a lot of interactions with those that have been in and are now out.' 'So I think it's important to look at the recidivism, and what the prison system can do to maybe change some of the behaviors of people,' Foote said. Like Milstead, though, he's coming to the group without having gone through the legislative battles on what kind of facility the DOC might need. He hopes to offer a different perspective as a result. 'I'm coming in with an open mind,' Foote said. 'I'm not biased either way.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill reducing drug ingestion charge goes to House
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – South Dakota lawmakers were split on deciding whether to reduce the penalty for drug ingestion from a felony to a misdemeanor during a Wednesday hearing. After a motion to pass the bill failed 8-5 and a motion to send the bill to the 41st Day ended in a 7-7 tie, the House Judiciary Committee sent Senate Bill 83 to the House floor with no recommendation in a 10-3 vote. SD DOC announces release of high-risk offender 'No recommendation' means the House will have to take a vote on whether to add SB 83 to the debate calendar. If the bill's backers win that vote, then SB 83 can be debated. If the calendaring vote is lost, the bill is dead. SB 83 would change the penalty for ingesting a controlled substance from a Class 6 felony to a Class 1 misdemeanor with a 'rigorous' rehabilitation program, according to prime sponsor Republican Rep. Brian Mulder. 'We cannot expect to continue to do the same thing and get different results,' Mulder said. 'We know the trouble we're having with our prison crowd and what's taking place in South Dakota.' Under SB 83, a person's first violation is a misdemeanor. They would be required to complete a drug and alcohol evaluation and supervised probation programs. A second violation is also a misdemeanor, but they may be sentenced for up to a year in jail on top of the evaluation and treatment programs. A third or subsequent violation is a Class 6 felony. Supporters for the bill say under the current law, a Class 6 felony on a first offense leaves little room for treatment and rehabilitation, clogs up the prison system and prevents offenders from getting a license or voting. 'A person makes a dumb mistake, does something stupid, and they're saddled with a felony for the rest of their life,' said Steve Siegel with the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association. 'They can't vote, can't own a firearm, can't get a good job. This bill has teeth. It would still be a crime.' Opponents, however, are worried that with a reduced charge and without the threat of jailtime, offenders may be less likely to appear for court dates or treatment. Street racing ban passes House Transportation 'We're going to get people that don't show up,' Stanley County State's Attorney Tom Maher said. 'They're not going to be motivated to receive the benefits of the treatment and to use the skills that they can receive through these probationary efforts to avoid that worse result. You've got to have consequences.' South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said people rarely get felon charges or put into the state penitentiary for their first offense. He also said it is unlikely that someone would only get an ingestion charge and not other charges like possession, distribution or a DUI. Others opposed are worried this bill would decriminalize drugs, which in states like Oregon, led to higher drug usage. 'We have a number of off-ramps for people to follow through on their road to recovery and to succeed in life,' Republican Rep. David Kull said. 'By reducing this to a Class 1 misdemeanor, I do look at it as a bit of a move towards decriminalization.' Both sides of the issue did seem to agree that treatment programs are necessary for controlled substance offenders and sentencing practices– especially to keep the prison population under control– need to be reevaluated. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Task force defeat muddles men's prison plan
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — A legislative proposal for a South Dakota incarceration task force is no more. Senate Bill 124 lost on Tuesday, failing 15-20. SD DOC announces release of high-risk offender The defeat came one day after the House of Representatives refused to shift $148 million into a state incarceration construction fund. The disarray calls into question what happens next regarding a new men's prison that's been in planning for several years. Gov. Larry Rhoden wanted the 1,500-bed men's prison to be in Lincoln County. But that plan fell apart on Friday, and the guaranteed maximum price of $825 million expires on March 31. Governor's aide Ryan Brunner was spotted in the Senate President's Lobby after the vote on the incarceration task force Tuesday afternoon. The SB 124 prime sponsor was Republican Sen. Kevin Jensen, who lives in Lincoln County. Jensen's bill called for the task force to deliver recommendations no later than December 1. But Senate Republican leader Jim Mehlhaff said further delay could cost South Dakota taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more. KELOLAND News will have more coverage regarding the uncertain future with a new men's prison. KELOLAND's Dan Santella got reaction in Lincoln County to the funding bill failing and KELOLAND's Don Jorgensen spoke with former state lawmakers who previously served on a prison task force. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Yahoo
Former pastor facing sex charges
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A former Sioux Falls pastor is in the Minnehaha County Jail facing sex charges. 52-year-old Patrick Anderson is accused of having unwanted sexual contact with four different people, between April and August of last year. SD DOC announces release of high-risk offender In one case he's also charged with raping the victim. According to court records, he used to go by the name of Patrick Boll. KELOLAND News did a story with him in 2016 when he was the pastor of a local Baptist told us about a program he started to help women in abusive relationships. 'I have a heart for women, for children, for people that have been pushed out of a bully position really that they just need someone to fight for them,' Anderson said in the 2016 story. Authorities issued a warrant for Anderson's arrest last week. He was booked into jail this morning, where he is being held on a $10,000 bond. The charges all involved adult victims. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
