South Dakota corrections work group formally backs need for new prison

SPRINGFIELD — South Dakota needs a new prison.

How large it ought to be or where are open questions, but a work group appointed to “reset” discussions on a new men’s prison agreed on that much Tuesday during the second of its four planned meetings.

State Attorney General Marty Jackley sat silent through more than four hours of testimony and public comment before asking his fellow members of “Project Prison Reset” to support a replacement for the penitentiary, the 144-year-old quartzite monolith in Sioux Falls known as “The Hill.”

By then, group members had reviewed a dozen potential sites for a new prison, submitted by landowners through a request for information. They’d also sat through presentations on mental health and occupational programming at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield, heard from city residents on the medium security facility’s value to the Bon Homme County city of 1,900, and had reassured those residents that it would remain a part of the Department of Corrections’ long-term facility plans regardless of what happens with the penitentiary.

With The Hill, Jackley said, the path forward is clear. It’s overcrowded, outdated and unsafe, he said, citing the case of a correctional officer killed by two inmates in 2011 as evidence of the dangers presented by the status quo.

“We can’t do nothing,” Jackley said. “We have to do something.”

Group agrees: New prison is necessary

The unanimous vote in favor of Jackley’s motion answers the first of three questions posed in the executive order from Gov. Larry Rhoden that created the group. At a special session in July, the group is meant to deliver recommendations on how large a prison is needed and where to put it, using the results of a consultant’s report on the state’s existing facilities as a guide.

Rhoden backed a plan to build an $825 million, 1,500-bed men’s facility on a controversial Lincoln County site during this year’s legislative session. The governor has called the penitentiary “gothic,” and said the site south of Sioux Falls that inspired an ongoing legal battle from neighbors was a “gift from God,” but was unable to sway lawmakers skeptical about the size, site and price tag.

Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen was appointed to lead Project Prison Reset after the legislative rebuffing. On Tuesday before the vote, Venhuizen said he agrees with Jackley on the need, but pointed out that the group’s schedule envisioned a review of the consultant’s report before answering any of the questions posed to it.

But “if you feel that we already know enough to answer the first question,” he said, “I think that is also very defensible.”

Just one work group member suggested otherwise.

Dell Rapids Republican Speaker of the House Jon Hansen, who announced a 2026 run for governor last week, tried unsuccessfully to convince the group to hold off on supporting a replacement. 

Hansen and his announced running mate, Canton Republican Rep. Karla Lems, were vocal opponents of the 1,500-bed plan that failed during the legislative session. Hansen pointed to a presentation on Springfield’s Governor’s House program from earlier in the afternoon. Inmates who build those affordable housing units are less likely to return to prison, the group learned. 

Why not explore options for reducing repeat offenses through programming before committing to new facilities, he asked?

“From everything that I’ve studied, we’re an outlier, and it’s really high,” Hansen said. “Before we go jumping into whether we need a new prison, I really think we should pause. Maybe it’s part of that report – I would presume it is – what are other states doing?”

But Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, said the needs are immediate. Even if the state were to keep The Hill, he said, “we’ve got 365 more people than we’re supposed to” in the building.

“Even if you disagree with a few of these members on the panel and say ‘I still think The Hill’s still viable,’ etcetera, we’ve still got to find room for 365 more people,” Karr said.

The penitentiary has some supporters. A former inmate who testified Tuesday said he spent time there and at the Federal Correctional Institution of Leavenworth in Kansas, a prison of similar vintage.

“The Hill is functional,” said Paul Cooper, who’s employed as a cook in Sioux Falls. “It’s clean, productive. I completely disagree with the fact that it needs to be rebuilt.”

Doug Weber, a former penitentiary warden who lobbied lawmakers to vote down the 1,500-bed proposal, told South Dakota Searchlight that The Hill is functional if maintained. Darin Young, the now-former warden who took the job upon Weber’s retirement, called the building “beautiful” in a recent interview with The Scouting Report podcast.

Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead offered a different take on Tuesday.

“I don’t need a consultant to tell me that place is a pit,” Milstead said. “I would not want my son or daughter working there.”

Hansen and Lems ultimately joined every other member of the task force in supporting Jackley’s motion.

Possible locations

Milstead spoke up in favor of consultation with neighbors during the earlier discussions on possible sites.

The state got 12 pitches from landowners for possible sites through its request for information. Four were outside of Sioux Falls, in Huron, Grant County (northeast of Watertown), Aberdeen and Mitchell.

Prison work group peppered with public testimony in first Sioux Falls meeting

Another eight were in the Sioux Falls area, including near the Lincoln County cities of Canton and Worthing and in the Sioux Falls development park that’s home to the city’s Amazon distribution center. The former Citibank campus just north of the current penitentiary was also offered up as an option, and multiple work group members toured that site recently.

Ryan Brunner, a policy adviser for Rhoden, presented the proposals on a spreadsheet and noted that some arrived as recently as Monday evening. The goal, he said, is to fill in the spreadsheet with details on each site’s cost, serviceability for utilities and other factors in the coming weeks.

“Is there some way you can put in there what the neighbors think?” Milstead said. “Some of these are in places where homes are going in nearby.”

Brunner said that will be a consideration for any site, as would issues like proximity to 100-year floodplains or interstates and workforce availability. The consultant hired to study the state’s needs can fully study three sites once the group narrows its options.

As far as public comments, Venhuizen said he doubts neighbors will be silent. Opposition from those who live near the initially proposed Lincoln County site – which is still on the table as an option for the work group – spoke up quickly.

“We put this list out yesterday,” Venhuizen said. “I’m sure we’ll know what the neighbors think in pretty short order.”