SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — There will be a new request for possible new men’s prison sites but this time, the request will include submissions of acres of less than 160 acres.
The Prison Project Reset task force met Thursday at the South Dakota Military Alliance in Sioux Falls. One of the morning’s topics was the plan to have a new request for information (RFI) for a possible prison project.
The request for information (RFI) that led to a possible new men’s prison in Lincoln County was specific to a larger prison on one site, said Ryan Brunner, an advisor to the Governor’s office.
“This RFI I wrote “smaller sites may be considered as part of a package or require a contingency of purchasing other property to meet requirements,” Brunner said.
That way a 70 or 80-acre site could be considered in conjunction with other sites, he said.
The RFI request will start Friday with submissions due on April 24. The task force will then have any RFI’s available for the next meeting in April.
Lt. Gov. and task force chairman Tony Venhuizen said the original RFI was for a large campus and the new RFI is one reason why officials presented other sites it owns of fewer than 100 acres.
The West Farm is a “couple miles north of Wild Water West,” Brunner said. It is the site of the state’s juvenile facility. That is a 32-bed facility. Sewer lagoons that are on the site are designed for the facility and staff and not for a larger facility, he said.
Brunner said the site is also on or near several gravel roads.
The South Dakota Department of Social Services owns several acres near or at, West Farm, for one of its juvenile facilities.
Task force member Republican Rep. Karla Lems asked if the state originally owned more land at the West Farm site.
Brunner said he didn’t know the exact answer but at one point, a lot of campuses had more acres. Many prison sites had farms to grow their own food which is one reason why the original sites had more acres, Brunner said.
Task force member Minnehaha Count Sheriff Mike Milstead said the West Farm had more state-owned acres because inmates worked on the farm. But when that became a troublesome option, the land was sold, he said.
DOC Secretary Kellie Wasko was asked if there was room to build on the men’s prison campus in Sioux Falls.
The state owns what was called North Farm on Thursday. North Farm is across a canal from the men’s prison in Sioux Falls. This is 28.6 acres.
State engineer Jennifer Walz explained that the state also owns property all the way down to Smithfield, which is land on a slope.
The city of Sioux Falls uses some of the land for a park facility, Walz said. The city also has utilities in that area and a city water treatment is in the area, she said.
Walz also said a water detention pond is on state-owned land which makes it unsuitable for building.
Task member Republican Rep. Greg Jamison asked about the full campus acres and how much was available for any possible building.
Walz said the campus has 40 acres including the Jameson Annex, so she estimated 15 to 20 acres, or about half, could be used for a building.
Venhuizen asked if that meant the recreation area was the only buildable available land on the Sioux Falls campus.
Wasko said that would be correct.
State-owned land and questions about other land outside of Sioux Falls were also addressed.
Rep. Lems asked about available state-owned land in Yankton. The state has a psychiatric hospital and treatment center in Yankton, the Human Services Center.
Brunner said there was not a lot of vacant space in Yankton. Some space once housed dairy barns. The city of Yankton now owns most of the former state-owned land and is developing it, he said.
Venhuizen said land south of the state facility is being developed as soccer fields by the city of Yankton.
What about the former Sioux Falls Area Humane Society property?, task force member Democrat Sen. Jamie Smith asked. That property is not far from the prison.
Brunner said he hasn’t talked to the property owner.
Brunner said he’s also been asked about property in Plankington. The state sold that property to a private company and the state leases it and services, Brunner said.
