Just NO!
I'm not sure what part of NO our politicians don't understand.
The other day I noticed an elected official from Lincoln County suggesting that we move the unnecessary, super costly ($800 million), mega prison to the Citibank property north of Sioux Falls. I assume this person believes this is a good idea, because it isn’t in Lincoln County.
I am not sure who had to wild idea that a few miles north of downtown Sioux Falls (Minnehaha County) would be a good location for a 1500 person mega prison. Sioux Falls has been experiencing a higher than normal murder rate recently. Importing another 600+ criminals and their families (1500 people in the new prison + 384 in the Jamison Annex - the 1282 prisoners Sioux Falls already has) can’t possibly help that situation. The South Dakota prison system has a recidivism rate above 40% and about 70% of the kids with incarcerated parents are in the juvenile justice system and other family members are often involved in crime as well. In fact, one would guess all this additional crime could put Sioux Falls on a fast track to becoming Minneapolis.
Let’s be perfectly clear. None of us want a mega prison in our community AT ALL. Instead, we expect the state to solve its problems, so we don’t need the capacity.
Fix the poverty situation. Most people in prisons are below the poverty line. That means we need to stop the wage depression caused by foreign workers, so we don’t pull our citizens and foreign workers and their families into poverty. Also, once a person is pulled into poverty that person and generally his/her family needs subsidized food (Snap), subsidized (low income) housing, indigent medical care (health and human services is over 30% of the state budget), transportation, etc. All these services are paid by the taxpayers, so this impacts the wellbeing of the community as a whole, creating additional financial pressure on families.
Fix the recidivism problem. Recidivism in Florida is about 25%. It is above 40% in South Dakota. It has been high in South Dakota for years. If we get the recidivism problem solved, we don’t need more prisons.
Send the out of state prisoners home. We have been told there are a significant number of out of state people in our prisons (we have not been able to get the number from the Department of Corrections so we are guessing the number is significant). If we have a problem with space, these people need to be returned to their home state, so they are not creating a financial burden (and prison space problem) for the citizens of South Dakota.
If the Department of Correction gets these problems under control and there are still space issues, we might be more willing to listen. Until then, please figure it out. We don’t need to destroy the largest metropolitan area in the state, because Kellie Wasko and her team can’t get their house in order. As an incentive, I would suggest that Kellie and her staff each take two or three prisoners home with them if there is a space problem.
If these home stays were a requirement, I am guessing everything would be stabilized in a few weeks. What’s your guess?
PS Big, mega rarely works if it is a prison or a K-12 school. People who are working to change behavior and/or learn need smaller more personal environments. Why the state is looking to build a huge structure rather than putting people into smaller spaces makes no sense.
Let’s also work on building stronger families and secure home life for our children too.
South Dakota Voices Response: Cass, thank you so much for the email and the kind words. There are many elected officials in Lincoln County. I encourage people look at the social media pages for all of them. And to speak with all of them. At least one of them are pushing the solution that is discussed in the first paragraph of the article. The point was not to single anyone out, but for people to be aware that we still have politicians talking about a 1500 person facility (which almost the citizens agree is completely unnecessary). You will note that the article focused on wage depression caused by foreign workers (putting people into poverty, which leads to crime), recidivism (almost everyone in the system has a substance abuse issue and most need skills so they can get legal work -- the numbers are in the annual DOC report), and returning out of state people to their place of residence rather than placing that burden on the people of South Dakota. It is also interesting to consider what is happening in Florida. They have a recidivism rate of about 25% and have many remote facilities (rural areas). One has to wonder if the "keep everything in a major metro area" might need to be reconsidered. Again, we love having your insights and feedback.
Email comment from CS: Hello. I really appreciate your columns and typically you are spot on. However, you are missing the point on the prison deal. NO ONE is saying move the billion dollar prison to SF citibank location - how did you interpret that? IN FACT - everyone is saying SD does not need a 1500 bed prison period. We do NOT have 1500 max security prisoners - that entire proposal did not make sense unless we suspect Noem knew she would get the homeland security appointment and move up in her washington ways and send prisoners to SD for pay.... BUT here in SD, we need opportunity, education and ESPECIALLY PRISON reform - and that you are spot on about ...KW NEEDS TO GET HER HOUSE in order - or be REPLACED. What SD prisoners need is opportunity. They need education, job training, satisfying work and a chance to be a contributing member of society. The citibank campus has sat empty for years. It would be an ideal location for classrooms, learning opportunities and low security prison. It could be modified and up and running in months vs years to build anything.... There were 2 studies done that showed improvements ACROSS the state are needed, not a billion dollar prison in one location....everyone who is speaking to the task force keeps saying - FIX WHAT WE GOT esp reducing recidivism and education - for both the prisoner and the family associated with the prisoner...AND - fixes spread jobs and opportunities across the state to benefit all instead of centralized in one location...the lincoln co site is a poor poor choice period, esp with SD winters AND massive rains - that flood every thing down stream.... You are doing a great job keeping good info going out...thank you....but maybe TALK TO THE legislator you are dissing about what he wants for prison reform...