Bill to change name of Department of Corrections advances

PIERRE — Less than an hour after a contentious vote on millions in funding for a new men’s prison, another corrections bill sailed through a Senate panel that met in the same room. 

That one, by contrast, wouldn’t cost a dime — at least not right away.

Senate Bill 192 comes from Sen. Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls. The four-sentence bill would change the name of the state’s prison system to the “Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.”

The bill had its first hearing at the Capitol in Pierre during a meeting of the Senate State Affairs Committee.

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Several states, including North Dakota, have embraced similar nomenclature as a nod to the need to rehabilitate offenders, the majority of whom are released back into their communities.

The bill would not require immediate changes to stationary, uniforms, signage or references to the agency in state law. Instead, it would direct the state’s code commission to adjust verbiage in future updates and leave operational changes to the agency and future legislatures to make.

A name change alone doesn’t do much, Smith said, but it does lead the way to change. He said the 1943 decision to change the U.S. Department of War to the Department of Defense was a sign of a shift in philosophy that helped guide the agency’s mission thereafter.

“We recognize the power of names to reflect who we are, and more importantly where we’re headed,” Smith said.

Before moving to send Smith’s bill to the Senate floor, Sen. Kevin Jensen, R-Canton, mentioned a previous name change. Former Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s administration changed the name of the Division of Drug and Alcohol in the Department of Human Services to the Division of Behavioral Health, and Jensen said it helped address the stigma surrounding addiction and the reality that most addicts also deal with co-occurring mental health issues.

Sen. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, said he understands that shifting toward rehabilitation takes more than a name change. But he also agreed with Smith and Jensen’s take on the power of verbiage to an organization’s mission.

“I heard in the hallway that it’s a nothing burger, but I do think names matter,” Karr said. “This is a step in the right direction.”

The Department of Corrections has not taken a position on the bill, according to spokesman Michael Winder.