South Dakota legislators to consider prison proposal

It would have 1,500 beds and be the most expensive state-funded project in South Dakota’s history.

The Associated Press reported earlier this year that South Dakota is poised to spend $2 billion on new prisons, even as crime rates have sharply dropped. Between 2022 and 2025, according to FBI data, violent and property crimes in the state fell by 56%.

State Sen. Red Dawn Foster told Buffalo’s Fire that she’s torn on how she’ll vote. While she says the existing 144-year-old state penitentiary in Sioux Falls is overcrowded and dilapidated, she would like any new facility to be developed in West River, so families from that area’s tribal communities can visit with less travel.

“Nine percent of South Dakota’s population is Native,” said Foster, “but 40% of South Dakota’s prison population is Native.”

Foster also said more of the state’s attention needs to be focused on addressing behavioral health and systemic issues within the justice and law enforcement systems that have led to greater incarceration rates for Natives. Foster added that tribes need to have a place at the table when it comes to discussions over corrections and justice, so their perspective is included in legislative matters.

Foster — who is of Oglala Sioux and Diné descent — said the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council in Pine Ridge planned to discuss the prison in a meeting, but have yet to do so.

Buffalo’s Fire requested comment from the Oglala Sioux Tribal Office but was told the president would be unavailable.

Ed Iron Cloud III, the tribe’s sergeant-at-arms, said speaking for himself, he thinks a new prison facility is a good idea and much needed. Like Foster, he hopes tribes have input on the development of the facility.

“The present prison is in pretty rough shape,” said Iron Cloud. “Tribes are state governments, and they should have input on what’s happening in South Dakota.”

In an email to Buffalo’s Fire, Josie Harms, Gov. Larry Rhoden’s press secretary, addressed Foster’s concerns for more West River facilities, saying there is already a men’s minimum security prison in Rapid City and a 300-bed women’s prison that is being constructed and near completion.

Harms said that the governor has announced his intent to create the Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force, which will determine the best path forward for expanding rehabilitation services. “The Governor will intentionally include a tribal representative on that task force,” Harms wrote, “and the task force will be instrumental in shaping effective programming (including Native American-focused programming) that reduces recidivism and supports our inmate population.”

Foster says she’s encouraged by the creation of the task force, but it’s the beginning of a long conversation. “We need to work to prevent more of our people from getting into the system,” she said.

South Dakota lawmakers defeated a previous effort in February to fund an $825 million prison, citing the expense and the need to fund more rehabilitative programs to curb recidivism.