PIERRE — Lincoln County might not be the site of a new prison after all.
But that won’t be decided until this summer.
Gov. Larry Rhoden has signed an executive order to form a working group that will reassess the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) plan to construct a 1,500-bed correctional facility south of Harrisburg, while calling for a special legislative session in July to make a final decision.
“This working group is our ‘reset’ button. Everything that came before is in the rearview mirror. From now on, we’re looking forward,” Rhoden said during a morning press conference at the Capitol on Thursday.
The announcement acknowledges heavy opposition to the project among state lawmakers, and comes after legislators earlier this week rejected a spending bill that would have been the final piece of funding necessary to move forward with the proposed $825 million prison. And with a requirement that two-thirds of both the state House and Senate sign off on the allocation of those dollars, it became increasingly unlikely that the DOC and the governor’s office could earn approval for the project from this year’s state Legislature.
“We’ve received the message that the current prison plan does not have buy-in this legislative session,” said Rhoden, adding that the panel will be tasked with determining if a new prison is needed, how big it should be and where it should go.
Calling the initiative “Project Prison Reset,” Rhoden said the first of those questions should be the simplest to answer because “pretty much everyone” understands there’s a need to replace the state’s aging penitentiary in Sioux Falls. However, there’s no consensus about the site and scope of a new correctional facility, a reality that the group — a mix of lawmakers and other interested stakeholders — will work to address, he said.
Project Prison Reset will include eight House members, seven senators and at least seven others. Legislators on the panel include Speaker Jon Hansen, House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, Reps. Tim Reisch, Greg Jamison, Brian Mulder and Jack Kolbeck, as well as House Minority Leader Erin Healy. Senate members include Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, Senate Majority Leader Jim Mehlhaff, Sens. Ernie Otten, Mark Lapka, Steve Kolbeck and Joy Hohn, along with Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jamie Smith. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen will be chairman of the group, which will also include public safety, judicial and mental health officials.
To assist them, a consultant will be hired to analyze DOC infrastructure, shortcomings and future needs. While the project that had been in the works at the Lincoln County site also relied on the direction of a consultant’s report put together in 2021, Venhuizen said too many lawmakers remain skeptical.
“I don’t think it’s viable to just rely on the old consultant report because there are people that don’t accept it, so that’s why (we are) going to hit the reset button and start over on some of those things,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
Although dirt work and other site preparations have already begun on the Lincoln County prison site, selected by the DOC for the facility in 2023, the governor’s office’s pivot means that work will cease until the working group makes its recommendations to the Legislature. And that will have to come no later than July 22, the day Rhoden will call lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special session on the prison.
Project Prison Reset is a welcome development for lawmakers who’ve been critical of the plan, including members of Rhoden’s working group.
“I applaud the governor for a thoughtful and logical approach to addressing South Dakota’s incarceration needs. We need to be problem solvers and address those needs,” Karr said. “We need to look at this issue with all options on the table with an emphasis on safety for the workers and inmates as well as addressing rehabilitation, programming and job skills to prepare individuals for re-entry.”
The working group will meet every four weeks beginning April 2. Its meetings will be conducted in public, according to the governor’s office.
Austin Goss-South Dakota Broadcasters Association