Overdose deaths, gang violence draw charges in some — not all — recent prison incidents

SIOUX FALLS — Attorney General Marty Jackley announced a flurry of criminal charges Tuesday in a series of incidents that have played out since February on the grounds of the South Dakota State Penitentiary.

Two people stand accused of providing the drugs that killed two of the four inmates who’ve overdosed this year in South Dakota prisons.

The charges in the overdose deaths of 20-year-old Anthony Richards and 39-year-old Jason Garreau were unsealed Tuesday. 

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An inmate allegedly supplied the synthetic marijuana that killed Richards in February at the penitentiary’s Jameson Annex. The methamphetamine and cocaine that killed Garreau in the penitentiary in May was allegedly delivered hand-to-hand by an on-site visitor who lives in Sioux Falls.

There are two other suspected prison overdose deaths under investigation, Attorney General Marty Jackley said Tuesday at the Law Enforcement Center in Sioux Falls. 

Charges may come soon in those cases, which involved the May 18 death of 24-year-old Joshua Arrow and the June 10 death of 42-year-old Nicholas Skorka.

Jackley said the state’s still awaiting toxicology results in those cases. 

Fighting: Nine gangs involved 

Also unsealed Tuesday were felony assault and rioting indictments for 24 inmates reportedly involved in a 40-man gang skirmish at the Jameson Annex on May 27 that injured 14 and sent four to the hospital. 

There were nine gangs involved in that fight, Jackley said. The violence was “coordinated” by the gangs, he said, but he declined to say if any of the eight inmate victims who are named in the indictments were targeted specifically.

Two of the people whose names are listed as assault victims were themselves charged for felony rioting, defined under South Dakota law as an incident in which three or more people break things or hurt others on purpose. 

“I’m going to suggest to you that of the 24 indicted, they might all be taking the position that they’re victims,” Jackley said, noting that the Division of Criminal Investigation concluded that only eight of those involved could legally be classified as such.

The number of gangs involved – nine – is “probably more than I’m normally involved with in a particular investigation,” Jackley said. But he also said he recognizes that “there is gang prevalence at the penitentiary.”

Fallout: visits suspended, investigations ongoing 

The charges relate to some, but not all, of the recent high-profile prison grounds incidents. 

An inmate broke the nose of a female correctional officer in late March at the penitentiary.

Another, unrelated bout of violence at the Jameson Annex between inmates came hours later. On May 7, a male correctional officer was injured by an inmate at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield. 

None of those incidents has drawn charges. 

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Several investigations have commenced this year into situations like those, Jackley said, as well as into a prison drug ring the Department of Corrections announced it had broken up.

A late May press release on that investigation said criminal charges would follow “if warranted.”

The attorney general declined to say Tuesday if more charges were imminent in any of those situations.

“Like all investigations, you may reach a point where you’re prepared because there’s probable cause and a reasonable likelihood that a jury would convict, where you move forward, but those investigations are not at that charging decision stage,” Jackley said.

He did suggest that autopsy results in the overdose deaths of Arrow and Skorka would be necessary to make the call in those specific cases. After Tuesday’s press conference, Jackley spokesman Tony Mangan told South Dakota Searchlight that the state is waiting for final reports in the officer assault cases. 

The Department of Corrections, meanwhile, suspended in-person visits in Sioux Falls in response to the drug ring investigation.

That decision has led to some consternation among inmate families, some of whom planned to hold the latest in a series of protests against the DOC Tuesday evening.

The charges and investigations this year have taken place as state officials consider sites for a new men’s prison to replace the oldest parts of the penitentiary. 

The first meeting of the Project Prison Reset task force came days after the late March assaults. Penitentiary and Jameson Annex inmates were on a security lockdown when the task force members toured the grounds for that April 2 meeting.

The officer in Durfee was attacked a week and a day after the group met in Springfield.

The next task force meeting is scheduled for July 8 in Sioux Falls.