South Dakota to replace one of the country’s oldest prisons

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota lawmakers have agreed to replace one of the nation’s oldest prisons, a lockup that predates the state itself.

Legislators narrowly passed a bill Tuesday night in a special session to spend $650 million to build a 1,500-bed men’s prison and close a penitentiary built 140 years ago when the state was part of the Dakota Territory. It will be the most expensive taxpayer-funded project since the state’s founding in 1889.

“Few things that we’ve done are as significant as what we’re doing here today,” Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden said before signing the bill.

South Dakota is imposing harsher criminal punishments and spending money on new criminal justice facilities at a time when Democratic-led states are pursuing more lenient policies and even closing prisons.

The state’s new prison, like the old one, will be located in Sioux Falls, where the municipal services needed to support it are already in place and trained corrections workers are already available.

Lawmakers have been debating for years whether to build a new prison, given overcrowding at the old site and serious problems including inmate deaths, fights and drug smuggling. In addition to being larger, officials say the new prison will have a modern design that will help alleviate those problems.

Some legislators had blamed the Corrections Department secretary for trouble at the penitentiary. Her recent resignation prompted increased support for building a new prison.

Winning approval for the facility is seen as a victory for Rhoden, who has focused on the project since taking over the state’s top office when former Gov. Kristi Noem left to join the Trump administration.

Rhoden is expected to run for reelection in 2026.

After an $825 million prison plan failed in this year’s annual legislative session, Rhoden created a task force of lawmakers and state officials to come up with a plan for the size and location of a new facility.

“You could say a lot of things about this process. I would not call it rushed,” said Lieutenant Gov. Tony Venhuizen, who chaired the summer task force.

A truth-in-sentencing bill that requires some violent offenders to serve the full length of their sentences before parole has contributed to South Dakota’s overcrowding problem, according to a consultant’s report. The report projected that South Dakota may need to spend up to $2 billion within the next decade to keep up with the increasing inmate population.

Proponents of the new prison argued that rehabilitative programming, mental health support and work opportunities require more space than is available in the current facility.

Construction is estimated to take four years.