Latest news with #SenateBill124
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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DOC official: No contingency if new prison plan fails
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Republican Sen. Chris Karr asked a Department of Corrections official Monday morning what the plan was if the prison funding and construction bill did not pass the House or the full legislature this year. 'What's the contingency plan if that occurs?,' Karr asked during the Monday morning Senate State Affairs committee. 'The prison that was designed by our architects is the prison the Department of Corrections thinks that we need to have,' said Brittni Skipper, the DOC's finance officer. 'We would keep pushing for the prison as designed.' RJ's parents mourn loss after Jameson Annex suicide The question and answer came during discussion about Senate Bill 124 which establishes an incarceration task force. The bill's sponsor is Republican Sen. Kevin Jensen who has been vocal in his criticism of the proposed prison's design, cost and location. The discussion happened before a vote to transfer $148 million to the incarceration fund was defeated 35-35 in the House Monday afternoon. Skipper said the the plan for the new prison has been reviewed multiple times by lawmakers and others as has a 2021 study by the DLR Group, Skipper said. She doesn't believe it's necessary to again review the DLR study. 'When we see that something is going to die and if it's important to us we go 'well what's our options, how do we work with the folks that are opposing it, and address their concerns and come up with some sort of compromise or change that we can keep moving forward,' Karr said. He appreciated Jensen's bill because it is important that if the Legislature does not approve construction of a new men's prison this session, discussion needs to continue. Karr said what the DOC said Monday was that it had no contingency plan if the prison failed. Jensen said it is necessary to review the DLR study which he said has multiple options for prison projects. Jensen said a prior task force did not have the best mix of members. His bill would include members from the incarceration pipeline from those working in mental health, to former wardens, to law enforcement and others, Jensen said. 'If we are serious about recidivism and things like that, then we need key stakeholders,' Jensen said of the make-up of a task force. 'We've done a study before, we've had a summer study. What's going to change?' committee member Republican Sen. Carl Perry asked. Jensen said the improved make-up of the task force would change. Committee member Republican Sen. Randy Deibert said while he was confident Jensen would bring an amendment in the future, he did not support a do pass for SB124 because it listed alternative site for a men's prison when it should say site. Using alternative assumes an alternative site would be approved, he said. A task force and a DLR study resulted in the DOC's plan for a 1,500 bed men's prison in Lincoln County that would house mostly minimum security inmates. It had a guaranteed maximum price of $825 million set to expire March 31. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A new task force on prisons clears a Senate committee
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The governor's plan to build a new men's prison for South Dakota in Lincoln County appears to have been set aside by the state House of Representatives. So the state Senate will now consider a Lincoln County lawmaker's proposal to have an incarceration task force take a fresh look at what to do next. Gosch wants to limit Noem-Johnson finance loophole The Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday morning recommended passage of the task force plan from Republican Sen. Kevin Jensen. The vote sends Senate Bill 124 to the full Senate for consideration on Tuesday afternoon. The House meanwhile was still scheduled on Monday afternoon to reconsider an amended version of House Bill 1025, which had failed 34-35 on Friday. The amendment calls for stripping the authorization for the proposed 1,500-bed prison in Lincoln County and would now only transfer $148,109,837 from state government's general fund to the state incarceration construction fund. Sen. Jensen's counter-proposal calls for establishing a 10-member panel that would meet at least six times this year and report its recommendations no later than December 1, 2025. State Department of Corrections finance officer Brittni Skipper opposed it. The Senate committee on a 5-4 vote however killed a companion measure, Senate Bill 204, from Jensen that sought to 'prohibit the expenditure of certain funds appropriated for purposes related to the construction of a prison facility.' Ryan Brunner, a senior aide to the governor, opposed SB 204. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Behind the walls of the SD State Penitentiary: Part II
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Among the stops on a tour Wednesday of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls was a group shower, a location which the state Department of Corrections highlights as problematic. 'The crumbling of the concrete, the rusting of all of the metal,' state Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko said Wednesday. 'The duct work is falling apart and eroding.' But the infrastructure of the shower isn't the only possible concern. 'There's issues for having staff,' Wasko said. 'There's one way in and one way out, if you have 40 offenders underneath the shower heads and 40 offenders on deck, and you have two staff down there with one stairwell to get out.' Wasko says this kind of shower is a relic of the past. 'You won't see those types of showers being reconstructed in modern facilities today,' Wasko said. KELOLAND News had the exclusive opportunity Wednesday to go inside the penitentiary and capture video in just a handful of spots selected by the state DOC. The video, along with what KELOLAND's Dan Santella and Kevin Kjergaard saw when the camera had to be put away, is evidence of the prison's aging condition. 'Every human being in here, the safety is our utmost responsibility,' said Amber Pirraglia, who serves as director of prisons with the DOC and interim warden at the penitentiary. 'So, being able to have the right resources for our staff to be successful, to help coach, guide and mentor inmates to be successful is what we need, and the right physical plant is an absolute necessity in that.' Wasko says the penitentiary was built for 400 inmates but had 784 Wednesday. Pirraglia says this overcrowding has ripple effects. 'It impacts movement,' she said Wednesday. 'It impacts how many people are going through a chow hall. It impacts how many people are in the classrooms and the programming. When you don't have the space to provide enough classes, some people don't get it.' Any prison will best serve the communities surrounding it if its inmates can be rehabilitated and eventually have a chance to positively contribute to society beyond its walls. But Wasko says the South Dakota State Penitentiary falls short in helping its inmates look to the future. 'There's no treatment space,' Wasko said. 'There's some classroom space that's across the yard, but that's reserved for education, GED. But when you don't have the ability to treat in environments, like therapeutic communities, whether it's for substance use disorders or cognitive behavioral therapies, we create an environment that's dark. It's small. It's enclosed. It doesn't promote pro-socialization.' Lawmakers in Pierre are considering more than one bill which deals with corrections while they're in Pierre during the ongoing legislative session. House Bill 1025 would authorize the construction of a new prison in Lincoln County. Another, Senate Bill 124, would set up a task force on incarceration to evaluate prisons, both current and new facilities. Senate Bill 204 seeks to ban the spending of certain money for corrections until that task force on incarceration makes a final recommendation. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
