[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6371324,"mediaKeyId","2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1","parentId",2150071,"title","Plan for Lincoln County men’s prison draws scrutiny over site selection and $825 million project cost","audioSeconds",4162,"startMs",2958000,"endMs",7120000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1&start=2958&end=7120","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1/thumbnail_2958000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6371324/South-Dakota/Plan-for-Lincoln-County-mens-prison-draws-scrutiny-over-site-selection-and-825-million-project-cost","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6371324-372252b8f5a57972304d1adb10e0fe02/orig.mp4?Expires=1771187710&Signature=G-8oNU2p1ltjvjX9VE66Ybi-N5lUQo1eUbKK4s2oZNXxKOPYF0jiTRlFihDc~fnYlfB2pUYNFitaznexea5xR6-xCCMOncgu1TNcLvrfePvWjgU1TVvvUhUve~NqXcOoRAKPuMbIYizirU0qGtL17exJE752cOGDKLxA5v9qmtmFlWz6cyWLEnewdEs4WclaLG0uaZmhOcoJyDpkgJUhBidSj8-LKnsruw~MQvfZlwInuS65ecjo6AvhSru~V2qOK88mWnvo5o62SeTRdPk1agsxHf4WGM6kq3GY~h0I8CwCzvZwECl6ED80K-AbkO4zFZiA9eAzgqr6Z31Z8IF6~w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","State of South Dakota","date","2025-01-23T00:00:00Z","article","The Department of Corrections presented detailed planning and financing information for a proposed men’s facility in Lincoln County, describing a multi‑custody design, the procurement of state lands, and an estimated total project cost the department put at $825 million.

Secretary Kelly Wasco said the design is for a multi‑custody, intake and long‑term facility that would hold 1,512 general population beds plus an intake unit of 72 beds. \"The 737 is the maximum that can be spent on construction,\" she told the committee when discussing the guaranteed maximum price, and then said the total project cost including utilities, insurance and commissioning was $825,000,000.

Site selection, land trust and due diligence

Ryan Brunner of the governor’s office, who spoke about the site search and land interests, said the state examined multiple properties over roughly 18 months and ultimately used 320 acres of state‑owned school and public lands. Brunner described the constitutional requirements for using school trust land: the trust must be made whole when land is converted to another public purpose; he said the state paid roughly $7.9 million to satisfy that requirement. Brunner said the site met utility and environmental due diligence and that purchasing privately held industrial land near Sioux Falls would have been far more expensive.

Budgeting and funding history

Wasco and other officials walked the committee through a multi‑year funding history: earlier transfers into an \"incarceration construction fund,\" design and land purchases authorized in legislative sessions, and an appropriation in 2024 that included ARPA funding for water and sewer infrastructure. The department said it expects to seek final appropriation authority and operating funding through separate bills (department staff identified House Bill 1017, House Bill 1340, Senate Bill 49 and other transfer measures in their chronology). The department plans to request the construction authority bill this session (identified in testimony as HB 1025) and said the bill will go through House State Affairs before appropriations and the Joint Committee of Appropriations.

Cost and operating estimates

The department presented its consultant estimates for the new facility: 441.5 FTE and $36.7 million in personal services using FY25 rates, and total operating costs of about $55 million. The department said the net increase to the statewide corrections operating budget after transfers and decommissioning of the peer minimum center would be about 240 additional FTE and roughly $21.6 million in ongoing costs.

Community, transportation and environmental questions

Lincoln County officials and residents raised questions about roads, drainage and flooding; Department of Transportation staff said they will study truck traffic, intersection upgrades and haul‑route impacts and will seek to work with local governments on improvements. DOT staff noted the township road connecting the site to state highways is about four miles long and said any haul‑route impacts would require contract provisions so local governments would not bear the cost of heavy‑construction traffic damage.

Local residents and several members of the Legislature questioned whether the department had sufficiently explored alternate sites (including the West Farm and existing contiguous land across the canal), whether the design had to be a multi‑custody intake facility and what the long‑term plan is for Jamieson and other Sioux Falls‑area facilities. Several corrections staff testified about safety concerns in existing facilities and urged the committee to approve a modern facility.

Next steps and legislative process

Department officials said site‑preparation work began after design and land appropriation bills passed in prior sessions; they said full construction authority and appropriation will require further legislation. Officials told the committee they will appear at bill‑hearings and provide additional answers to detailed technical questions, and that the project timeline includes multiple future appropriations and operating budget requests.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Joint Committee on Appropriations - Day 7","oneSentenceSummary","The Department of Corrections defended its selection of state land in Lincoln County for a proposed men’s multi‑custody facility and presented an $825 million total project estimate and operating projections; legislators and nearby residents raised questions about site choice, infrastructure and transparency.","taxTitle","2025 Legislative SD, South Dakota","taxId",77845,"location","South Dakota","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6371328,"Rapid City women’s prison construction progresses on schedule; state says project fully funded",141,2629000,2770000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1&start=2629&end=2770","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1/thumbnail_2629000.jpg","/articles/6371328/South-Dakota/Rapid-City-womens-prison-construction-progresses-on-schedule-state-says-project-fully-funded","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6371328-9377468d9fbc3435b007cce8805b310b/orig.mp4?Expires=1771187710&Signature=XBGdvcNahzx8xGokxCsbwLyesSTkFLbBLQqxv7iRz7WtPoA7bcvOPIIWDPnR8UOqCPVLvv5wpFHPlf2qUdlQKyKi250N8MCAC6IC3C39NjmTQgvwDWe7kYousVhChCm37RVpbUqqIUMlrNdQQ43wMNvRzgEpkZrqaWj~72kYVWo-StVJyp0dPbCb8oNJ03pgyNZ-hKM2qY-zLAKxO0fKqlpM-fapRB~-qPeW4ZzkPj-fMcZ4yE-CNikd98Jc2nrtwWcF2adX1F01m7GegQK87tBoOM5RHzBP-j~D3aFV4geEdpYfRZNMAMOoJyjdb0zbFAOCcWwk8UVHM0SpS8-fvw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Department of Corrections officials told the Joint Committee of Appropriations that construction of the Rapid City Correctional Facility for female offenders is underway, the project is funded and the department plans to request ongoing operating dollars next year.

\"This project is completely funded,\" Secretary Kelly Wasco said during the hearing, describing the legislative approvals that enabled land purchases, design and construction. She told the committee that Senate Bill 53 (2022) approved land purchase and design funding, and that subsequent appropriations fully funded construction.

Designs shown to the committee depict an open complex with a services building (kitchen, dining, education and programming spaces), an administration and visiting building and three housing units. Wasco said one housing unit will be medium custody and two will be minimum custody, and that the services building includes a multipurpose area and fenced outdoor space for culturally specific programming.

Project status and funding

The department reported a total appropriation of $87,100,000 for the Rapid City project and said it had spent roughly $19,000,000 to date on site work and construction progress. Wasco said construction bids came in under the guaranteed maximum price (GMP), leaving an owners’ contingency of nearly $5,000,000 that had not yet been used.

The committee was shown photos of roughed‑in housing units and an administration building under construction. Department officials said the construction schedule is a 24‑month build that began the previous summer; they said the department plans to hire and train staff in early 2026 so the facility will be ready to receive offenders in summer 2026.

Operating estimates

A consultant’s staffing analysis delivered to the department estimated 152.4 FTE to staff the facility. The department told members using fiscal 2025 salary rates that personal services (wages and benefits) would be about $12.6 million and operating expenses (food, clothing, clinical, security) about $3.4 million, for an estimated first‑year operating budget of about $16 million.

Committee members asked about local reaction and logistics. Vice chair Derby noted no local complaints since construction began. The department said the site is accessible from North Creek Road and that the next big construction milestones were the administration and services buildings.

Contracting and finance

Wasco said the project used an at‑risk construction manager and that, because bids were favorable, contingency dollars remain. The department identified furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) as costs that occur nearer move‑in and said those expenditures would be scheduled later in the project timeline.

The department said it will request the ongoing operating budget tied to the new facility next year and that offender moves will be staged once staff training is complete.

Wasco and committee members agreed the project remains on a timeline that would bring Rapid City online significantly sooner than the larger proposed men’s facility discussed elsewhere in the hearing.","The Department of Corrections told the Joint Committee of Appropriations that core construction of the Rapid City Correctional Facility is roughed in, the project remains within its guaranteed maximum price and the department expects offenders to move in during summer 2026.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6371333,"South Dakota corrections officials cite overcrowding, staffing and medical shortages; unveil reentry initiative SAFER South Dakota",1173,466000,1639000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1&start=466&end=1639","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2150071-8899a21d461b273cf05f4eb3da1921c1/thumbnail_466000.jpg","/articles/6371333/South-Dakota/South-Dakota-corrections-officials-cite-overcrowding-staffing-and-medical-shortages-unveil-reentry-initiative-SAFER-South-Dakota","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6371333-d37b280d75e32b9b351dca8dbbf0a38c/orig.mp4?Expires=1771187710&Signature=eJ7kPsA1xq58Kwb8jw97oP2cHuBZRlYByZQEVIXdJ6cdsS~7e-MfHqKnYsaCTczw39INMPQ6FwH5CWwm1FKLe367LL~hXTAyagsP-DMQM7brdC3RebEx6O~CLgOD5gqOTBSTgpNk6lPn2~2BD33ShRNyvo1m7gJnzQD7FkgHHRNYXD~0mAhve-xMlLKBDFlT7OfqY6GQJIWveV2o4ohpY86mtLRwOPEK2DO72vocd6ePiHCd-ll-zynWfU-x02TcrDt6r8A3QOoEJHVCQIcO-U-USgvhzDuXdgSOmJWGFta50UgIN~t2YXLVkFO2zIfO1ue6Gi5F-fc2e5mvp-hifQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Kelly Wasco, cabinet secretary of the South Dakota Department of Corrections, told the Joint Committee of Appropriations that the prison system has been operating well above designed capacity for years and that the department is moving to expand reentry services and address workforce shortages.

\"We have pretty much consistently been well above the number of offenders that we can safely house,\" Wasco said as she described average daily population and facility design limits that leave many units operating above capacity.

Wasco and the department’s finance director, Britney Skipper, laid out a package of operational challenges and policy responses. The department reported an average statewide operational capacity of roughly 133% since fiscal 2019, with some facilities—by point in time counts—far above design limits. Wasco said the department aims for a roughly 5% vacancy in each facility to allow safe movement and classification of inmates.

The department is pursuing a mix of internal changes and new programs to reduce future returns to prison. Wasco described a new reentry model, SAFER South Dakota (Supportive Approach for Fostering Education and Reentry), using risk assessment tools and an emphasis on continuous programming through an offender’s sentence rather than concentrating intervention only in the final months. She also highlighted quarterly family‑reunification events; the department said those events reunited more than 500 people statewide over the holidays.

On recidivism, Wasco said the department’s most recent publicly available three‑year calculation showed an overall 43% return rate; she said 30 percentage points of that were returns on parole violations and 13 percentage points were returns on new crimes. The department did not claim a causal link between facility capacity and recidivism in the hearing record but tied expanded treatment and vocational programs to its goal of reducing returns.

Workforce pressures were a major focus of testimony. Skipper said the department has 974.6 budgeted full‑time equivalents (FTE) and more than half of those positions—529 FTE—are uniformed security staff. She described an historical vacancy problem for security staff that improved from an average of 27% (fiscal 2023) to a reported 10% vacancy rate in the most recent December point. The department reported a reduction in security vacancies from a high of 156 vacancies (December 2022) to 65 vacancies.

Clinical staffing is more strained. The department said clinical services (nurses and chemical dependency counselors) transferred into DOC oversight in fiscal 2024 and currently show higher vacancy rates: LPN vacancies at about 53% and RN vacancies at about 40%, according to testimony. To cover gaps the department uses overtime and a contract for travel nurses; the contract vendor Platinum Choice Staffing was paid about $3.1 million last year and the department estimates about $4.6 million this fiscal year for contract nursing.

Skipper outlined recruitment and retention measures including a 43% increase in starting pay for security staff over three years (she cited a move from $17.89 per hour to $25.50), a $2 per hour night differential for security staff, a $5 per hour differential for nursing staff (the department said it is considering larger critical‑pay differentials), referral bonuses, nurse sign‑on bonuses and loan‑repayment/scholarship programs tied to service commitments. The department also contracted a recruiting firm, RCI, which it said recruited 182 correctional officers who were hired during the last 12 months.

The department told the committee it has resumed 12‑hour shifts for many security staff after a trial of 8‑hour shifts. Officials said the 12‑hour schedule had greater staff support in internal surveys.

Skipper and Wasco acknowledged the cost impacts of clinical staffing: the FY26 budget request includes an increase for clinical services to reflect projected population growth and inflationary pressures on prescription drugs and outsourced services. The department said it will seek additional operating dollars in the coming budget cycle to cover medical and staffing needs.

The department also described ongoing efforts to reduce overtime and vacancies while expanding programming tied to vocational, educational and substance‑use treatment services.

The hearing drew questions from several legislators about how these changes compare to other states, whether policy changes (sentencing/release rules) would affect future population projections, and how the department evaluates the return on investment for expanded reentry programming.","Department of Corrections officials told the Joint Committee of Appropriations that the state prison system is operating above design capacity, faces high clinical‑staff vacancies and relies on contract nurses while rolling out a new reentry program called SAFER South Dakota.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Plan for Lincoln County men’s prison draws scrutiny over site selection and $825 million project cost

Rapid City women’s prison construction progresses on schedule; state says project fully funded

South Dakota corrections officials cite overcrowding, staffing and medical shortages; unveil reentry initiative SAFER South Dakota