PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Top officials from the South Dakota Department of Corrections went before the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Tuesday and said they’re still working through the final design and the cost of a new men’s prison that is planned south of Sioux Falls.
Lawmakers heard from Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko and her department’s budget director Brittni Skipper, as well as two of the people who don’t want the prison built at the proposed state-owned site north of Harrisburg in Lincoln County.
A citizens opposition group, Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion, has filed a lawsuit in state circuit court against the project. Republican Sen. Jim Bolin, whose legislative district includes much of Lincoln County, asked Wasko whether the department has another plan in the event that the lawsuit succeeds.
“We do not have a valid developed plan B if that ruling does not come through for us,” Wasko said.
Wasko and Skipper said the design is nearly complete and that will lead to delivery of a guaranteed maximum price from the contractor by early November. While that amount remains uncertain, discussions in the halls of the Capitol have pointed to a number higher than $700 million. Construction is scheduled to wrap up in January 2029, according to a presentation the department prepared for the committee.
The new prison will have a 1,500-bed capacity and Wasko said there’s already a need for 1,200 beds. She said completion of the new prison will allow inmates to be shifted throughout South Dakota’s other men’s incarceration sites including Mike Durfee State Prison at Springfield and the Yankton unit.
“Durfee should not be housing twelve-hundred inmates. Yankton should not be housing three hundred,” Wasko said. “It’s going to stabilize all the facilities in the state, because by definition, a level-five can house all levels (of inmates),” she said.
Republican Rep. Chris Karr, whose legislative district includes parts of Sioux Falls, asked for a document that would show how the inmate populations will be spread. He said the department’s website has an older plan.
Wasko said she doesn’t like projections that go beyond five years. “We can certainly give you spaghetti on the wall,” she said.
Republican Rep. Tony Venhuizen, whose district includes parts of Sioux Falls, asked what the additional ongoing budget costs will be once the new prison comes on line, saying they could be “pretty considerable.” He wants a ballpark estimate so the appropriators can plan.
“We understand it’s just a guess. I don’t know within $50 million what that number is, and we can do better than that,” Venhuizen said.
Skipper said the ballpark figures are another 130 employees and $15 million more per year to start. “This is just a preliminary estimate. We’d have to estimate by salary policy out to 2028,” she said.
Democratic Sen. Red Dawn Foster asked whether the department has met with the state court system or the state attorney general regarding possible different approaches to incarceration. Wasko said there hasn’t been any discussion with the judicial system.
Karr said he was told that the property was under water after recent rain storms. He asked whether the land is in a floodplain. Skipper said there was “minimal water damage” to the site. As to whether it’s in a floodplain, Skipper said, “I’m not sure.”
Moments later, she added, “I just got a text the land is not in a floodplain, just to clarify.”
Karr shot back, “I just got one it is.”
During public testimony, lawmakers heard from NOPE leader Kyah Broders in person and from former legislator Steve Haugaard by telephone. They expressed various concerns. “There’s all these questions being raised that don’t have much of an answer,” said Haugaard, a Sioux Falls lawyer who had challenged Governor Kristi Noem in the 2022 Republican primary. “There are so many issues I think need to be addressed before we spend any more money on this.”
Venhuizen clarified that the Legislature will decide during the 2025 session whether the $80 million surplus from the 2024 budget that Noem recently announced will go into the prison-construction fund and whether the project will ultimately go ahead.
Republican Sen. Dean Wink asked whether the department would be back. Wasko said they would return with the guaranteed maximum price in hand and ask for authorization of the facility.
Democratic Rep. Linda Duba asked Wasko whose responsibility it is to set corrections policy for South Dakota. Wasko said the court system is a separate branch of government. “I would not be responsible for anything on the front end of incarceration,” Wasko said, adding that she floats policy updates she’s considering for review among her colleagues in other states.
Duba noted that Wasko when she began as secretary had promised to capture data and has delivered, but Duba then asked whether Wasko would continue to do so “because we’re going to need solid evidence-based data to guide our decisions in the future.”
Wasko assured the legislators that she keeps adding different ways to do things and those decisions are based on real-time data. Wasko said that future statistical reports will continue to show the effectiveness of changes in state law.
Republican Rep. John Mills urged the Legislature to not approve any more construction funding without firm estimates and policy changes. “There’s no reason why that cannot be done,” he said.
Mills referred to the remark from the committee’s co-chair, Republican Rep. Mike Derby, who said that the Rapid City community has embraced the new women’s prison there. “Wouldn’t that be nice if that could happen on the east side of the state too?” Mills said.
