MITCHELL — The third community event held in a week’s span on Tuesday night was the most wide-ranging in terms of Mitchell voices heard from regarding a proposed state maximum security prison.Because of that, the community conversation sometimes strayed outside the lines of the Braver Angels-style debate and saw some tensions flare, as local residents grappled with the idea of a $650 million state prison being placed a few miles outside the city.
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MiKayla Johnson, one of the leading opponent voices against the prison, said her and her husband Mark moved to the Mitchell community because of the close relationships and families that were returning to Mitchell. She said they saw the chance to have generations of families grow up in a close-knit community. But she alleged that the prison process in Mitchell has been a “fundamentally broken process,” one that has been short on public input and pro-prison narratives.“Mitchell is not a dumping ground for unwanted projects,” she said. “We are standing firmly against this prison because we love Mitchell.”She said the decision is only out of Mitchell residents’ control if the community doesn’t stand up and be heard, and that Mitchell’s future should not be for sale.
MiKayla Johnson speaks as an opponent to the prison coming to Mitchell at the DWU’s Braver Angels Courageous Conversation on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at DWU’s School of Business, Innovation and Leadership in Mitchell.Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic
Jeff Bathke, a first-term state representative who is also the Davison County Planning and Zoning Administrator and has past experience working as a counselor in the state prison system, said there have been 10 instances of new construction or additions to prison facilities in the state and “none of those have ruined communities.” He also said there was opposition to the construction of Davison County’s jail in 1993 when it moved to the former Methodist Hospital site in Mitchell and dozens of homes have since been constructed nearby.“In Davison County, we have to say yes to development,” he said, adding that Yankton has grown 2 1/2 times more than Mitchell has in recent years.Zach Flood, a Mitchell lawyer, spoke about his experience as a criminal defense lawyer and dealing with people potentially being sent to prison. His home is about 1 mile from the proposed prison and he said his primary concern is the safety of State Highway 37.“The dangerousness of this (facility), it’s flat out false,” Flood said. “95% of people are non violent. Many of them are there because they have drug and alcohol problems. It’s not because they are bad people. … I’ve been in every prison in the state, multiple times. They are not unsafe places. Our (Davison County) jail is probably more unsafe than the prison.”
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The forum also heard from a few individuals with experience in the state prison system. Toby Kippes, 47, lives in Mitchell but is a convicted felon. He said he doesn’t have a stance on whether a prison should be built in Mitchell but he spoke about the stereotypes many in the community have about people who have been in prison.“If you’re flat-lining, what is the difference between someone who has served his time and is entering this community compared to someone moving in from Kansas who has a bad meth addiction?” Kippes said. “We have to have a choice, we have to have a chance. … I’m standing here today because Jesus Christ gave me a second chance. I know a large group of men that have walked the same path I’ve walked. We go out and we try to do things better.”
Toby Kippes, of rural Mitchell, shares his story of his time in the state penitentiary during DWU’s Braver Angels Courageous Conversation on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at DWU’s School of Business, Innovation and Leadership in Mitchell.Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic
Mitchell resident Jeff McEntee spoke about the research that’s been published regarding the impacts of prisons in small towns. He said hosting prisons was a method in the 1980s and 1990s to combat recessions and high unemployment. He said that some communities had a small-scale increase in economic growth at the time the prison was built but that eventually subsided and crime did rise in those communities. “In a town the size of Mitchell, it’s going to have an impact,” McEntee said later, noting that he has family land near the proposed site. “I have a lot of vested interest. I can’t in good conscience, I can’t support having this here.”The event, sponsored by the Dakota Wesleyan University McGovern Center, tackled the question: “Should the state prison for men be constructed in the Mitchell area?” More than 175 people were on hand for the event, which spanned nearly two hours and easily set a local attendance record for a Braver Angels-style event at DWU. Attendees heard from three voices on the pro-prison side and the anti-prison argument, and each of those individuals were directed two questions each.It was the third community event in a seven-day span regarding the potential prison project, with an in-person forum at Mitchell Technical College and a virtual forum last week, both of those events sponsored by the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce and Development Corporation.
Jeff McEntee, of Mitchell, speaks as an opponent at the DWU Braver Angels Courageous Conversation on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at DWU’s School of Business, Innovation and Leadership in Mitchell.Luke Hagen / Mitchell Republic
Mark Johnson spoke in opposition to the prison. He cited statistics from the state Department of Corrections’ 2024 annual report — which includes figures from July 2023 to June 2024 to align with the state’s fiscal year — regarding the number of parolees and unsupervised releases. In that period, 192 of 476, or 40%, of the South Dakota State Penitentiary’s releases were discharges, or flatliners, who were not parolees but had completed their sentence and are unsupervised upon their release.
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In the report, the DOC writes that Jameson Prison annex and the state penitentiary discharges are “greatly attributed to releases of federal offenders. Most federal offenders were housed at one of those locations and typically released after serving less than a year in a state correctional facility.”Mark Johnson said the community of Mitchell doesn’t have the health or community services to handle ex-inmates who stay in Mitchell and struggle to adapt out of prison.“That’s going to put one heck of a burden on our town. I don’t know that we can handle that,” Johnson said.Mitchell Area Chamber and Development Corporation CEO Mike Lauritsen believes the prison represents a “big opportunity” for the community, bringing state jobs that pay well to the community. “We are poised very well for growth,” Lauritsen said. “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity … and it’s tough to find opportunities as large as this one.”Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson asked to speak during the event. Hanson, who formally opposed the prison plan earlier this month, spoke from a neutral position on Tuesday night, which was a requirement in order for Hanson to get four minutes of standalone speaking time.“I want to say, I don’t have a definite yes or no answer on whether we should bring a prison to Mitchell,” he said. “This brings questions for the community of Mitchell. Prisons can bring more growth to Mitchell. … I ran for mayor and focused on growth but not at the cost of the people who live here. … I want to reach 20,000 (population) but I want to reach it as a community.”
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Mitchell Area Chamber and Development Corporation CEO Mike Lauritsen speaks as a proponent of the prison coming to Mitchell during DWU’s Braver Angels Courageous Conversation on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at DWU’s School of Business, Innovation and Leadership in Mitchell.Luke Hagen / Republic
Hanson was also the subject of some news from Tuesday. In the opposition presentation of MiKayla Johnson, she said Hanson was kept from being able to sit on the panel of local leaders at a recent forum after he publicly stated his opposition to the prison. Hanson said that was true, that Lauritsen told him he could not participate in the panel discussion.Later, Lauritsen responded to allegations that community leaders tried to keep this from the public. He said he sought support from local leaders because he wanted Mitchell to have the best chance to have a competitive bid for consideration.“For us to make it to the next round, I don’t know what will happen. I know it’s a very political process,” Lauritsen said. “I don’t know that we will make it past this round.”The Mitchell City Council’s resolution supporting pursuing the prison was also a sticking point between Lauritsen and the opponents of the prison. Lauritsen said it wasn’t the Chamber or MADC that brought forward the resolution to support the prison, rather it was drafted by City Council member Tim Goldammer.
