SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Conversations on where and how to build a new men’s penitentiary in South Dakota have a new focus.
Project Prison Reset’s task force will tour the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls as well as the rural site in Lincoln County where the state had focused on putting the penitentiary’s replacement before lawmakers in February voted down a bill to appropriate money to build the facility. In the wake of the legislative defeat, Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen will serve as the task force’s chair.
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“The governor’s direction to our task force was to take a fresh look at the entire situation,” Venhuizen said. “So, I am really starting this with the idea that we’re in fact-finding mode, so this first meeting is going to be a lot of background information.”
The tours are scheduled for Wednesday. Eventually, the plan is for a special session of the state legislature to learn in late July about the group’s recommendations. Venhuizen says the Lincoln County site between Harrisburg and Canton is still a possibility.
“I would say all options are on the table, including that one,” Venhuizen said. “And that’s a piece of ground that we own and that we have spent a certain amount of money on preparing, and that’s certainly a factor to consider, but I don’t think any options are on or off the table right now.”
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle will serve on the task force, including Republican Sen. Jim Mehlhaff and Democratic Sen. Jamie Smith.
“I think everybody may be going into this with somewhat of a predisposition, but we’re all trying very hard to put those aside and just look at it from a fresh angle as if we’re just starting from new,” Mehlhaff said.
And what happens after someone has served time is also in focus.
“What are we doing to make sure when they leave prison they’re better equipped for life outside the walls,” Smith said. “And those I don’t think will necessarily be addressed by this committee, but that’s I think the larger looming question after we figure out what we need to do facility-wise.”
“The people that we’re sending to prisons, if we don’t have good areas for rehabilitation, then I don’t think that they’re going to come out of prison with a good experience and want to be that productive citizen,” said Yankton Police Chief Jason Foote, who is also on the task force.
Following Wednesday’s tours, the task force is set to gather for public comment, presentations and discussion Thursday in Sioux Falls. Project Prison Reset will then next meet in Springfield, S.D. on April 29; the community is home to Mike Durfee State Prison, another South Dakota Department of Corrections facility.
