SIOUX FALLS, SD - Two years ago, South Dakota approved a tough-on-crime sentencing law. Now, the state is scrambling to figure out how it will pay for housing thousands of additional inmates, which comes with a $2 billion price tag to build the additional prisons to house them.
As a result of the tough-on-crime sentencing laws, South Dakota will see an anticipated 34 percent surge in the inmate population over the next decade, the Associated Press (AP) reported. For a state with the lowest population in the United States, $2 billion is a steep price, AP reported, and while officials are complaining about the cost, they are less concerned with the laws that were passed and that are driving the need for additional prisons.
Although the state passed the tough-on-crime sentencing laws, national crime rates are dropping. "Crime has been falling everywhere in the country, with historic drops in crime in the last year or two," said Bob Libal, senior campaign strategist at the criminal justice nonprofit the Sentencing Project. "It's a particularly unusual time to be investing $2 billion in prisons."
For now, state lawmakers have set aside a $600 million fund to replace the overcrowded 144-year-old South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. It will be the most expensive taxpayer-funded project in South Dakota history. Phoenix-based Arrington Watkins Architects, the consultant South Dakota hired, said that the state will need an additional 3,300 beds in the next decade, meaning the state will have to build more prisons and instead costing closer to $2 billion.
South Dakota incarcerates 370 per 100,000 people, making it an outlier in the Upper Midwest. Minnesota and North Dakota have rates of under 250 per 100,000 people, according to the Sentencing Project.
Nearly half of South Dakota's projected inmate population growth can be attributed to a law passed in 2023 that requires some violent offenders to serve the full length of their sentences before being eligible for parole.
About 40 percent of inmates who are paroled end up recidivating, with the majority of those due to technical violations such as failing a drug test or missing a meeting with their parole officer. Those returning inmates made up nearly half of the prison admissions in 2024.
Sioux Falls criminal justice attorney Ryan Kolbeck blamed the high recidivism rate on the lack of services in prison for people with drug addictions. "People are being sent to the penitentiary but there's no programs there for them. There's no way it's going to help them become better people," Kolbeck said.
"Essentially, we're going to put them out there and house them for a little bit, leave them on parole, and expect them to do well."
Former penitentiary warden Darin Young said that the state needs to upgrade its prisons, but he also thinks it should spend up to $300 million on addiction and mental health treatment. "Until we fix the reasons why people come to prison and address that issue, the numbers are not going to stop," he said.
As a result of the tough-on-crime sentencing laws, South Dakota will see an anticipated 34 percent surge in the inmate population over the next decade, the Associated Press (AP) reported. For a state with the lowest population in the United States, $2 billion is a steep price, AP reported, and while officials are complaining about the cost, they are less concerned with the laws that were passed and that are driving the need for additional prisons.
Although the state passed the tough-on-crime sentencing laws, national crime rates are dropping. "Crime has been falling everywhere in the country, with historic drops in crime in the last year or two," said Bob Libal, senior campaign strategist at the criminal justice nonprofit the Sentencing Project. "It's a particularly unusual time to be investing $2 billion in prisons."
For now, state lawmakers have set aside a $600 million fund to replace the overcrowded 144-year-old South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. It will be the most expensive taxpayer-funded project in South Dakota history. Phoenix-based Arrington Watkins Architects, the consultant South Dakota hired, said that the state will need an additional 3,300 beds in the next decade, meaning the state will have to build more prisons and instead costing closer to $2 billion.
South Dakota incarcerates 370 per 100,000 people, making it an outlier in the Upper Midwest. Minnesota and North Dakota have rates of under 250 per 100,000 people, according to the Sentencing Project.
Nearly half of South Dakota's projected inmate population growth can be attributed to a law passed in 2023 that requires some violent offenders to serve the full length of their sentences before being eligible for parole.
About 40 percent of inmates who are paroled end up recidivating, with the majority of those due to technical violations such as failing a drug test or missing a meeting with their parole officer. Those returning inmates made up nearly half of the prison admissions in 2024.
Sioux Falls criminal justice attorney Ryan Kolbeck blamed the high recidivism rate on the lack of services in prison for people with drug addictions. "People are being sent to the penitentiary but there's no programs there for them. There's no way it's going to help them become better people," Kolbeck said.
"Essentially, we're going to put them out there and house them for a little bit, leave them on parole, and expect them to do well."
Former penitentiary warden Darin Young said that the state needs to upgrade its prisons, but he also thinks it should spend up to $300 million on addiction and mental health treatment. "Until we fix the reasons why people come to prison and address that issue, the numbers are not going to stop," he said.
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Comments
2025-06-13T22:30-0400 | Comment by: Chris
Maybe you just need to get even tougher on crime and start executing some of them.