The Project Prison Reset Task Force has removed Mitchell and Worthing as sites for a new South Dakota Men’s prison. That leaves two locations in Sioux Falls in the running.
The task force’s decision on Tuesday was no surprise to Mayor Jordan Hanson. “You don’t think it’s like looking at the guidelines for the prison that we ever really even had a shot,” said Hanson.
One of the limiting factors was a survey that revealed only seven-percent of prison workers living in Sioux Falls would make the drive to Mitchell.
He says Mitchell is still open for business. “We have all kinds of infrastructure, we have all kinds of anything else anybody else needs, and I know we have the people to do it”, Hanson said.
The Mayor says it’s a matter of waiting for the right opportunity to come along.
Monday night the city council approved a multi-million dollar senior living development just north of Lake Mitchell.