Hot from my mailbox, it appears that the re-study the state felt they needed to do on resolving South Dakota’s prison issue pointed them back to the beginning, and at the Lincoln County site they’ve already dumped $50 million into site prep for:
250530 SD Men’S_MP Refresh_ Updated Report by Pat Powers on Scribd
“Site Recommendations:
Based on our site analysis and choosing by advantages method of ranking potential sites the top ranked site for Development is the Existing Lincoln County SDDOC site. This site is 10 miles from Sioux Falls, is not in proximity to major interstates, railroads, or major waterways, has the size for a full build of 1728 in phase 1 (also can service phase 4&5 or phase 6 alt), is ranked high for site access, and only scored poorly for site utilities and potential additional cost during development. Due to the fact that the State already owns this land some of the total development costs are minimized compared to other sites that require purchase and development costs.
Lincoln County was followed on the ranking system by the Huron site, which also scored well, but is very remote and directly adjacent to a major highway.
Our recommendation for site selection for phase 1 development of the men’s capacity plan is the Lincoln County Site “
Of course, this will just be that much more expensive now that they’ve delayed and fiddled around with it as long as they have.
The NIMBYs will just be back out screaming. This has NEVER been about money, but a bunch of people who dont want it near them. I get it. But they cant stay in a century and a half old building. People will get killed.
“I think there are several proposals out there,” Jackley said Tuesday. “The ones that I’m more interested in fall in that $525 million range, ’cause again, for me this is about protecting not just the public, but the taxpayers.”
Let’s do what Jackley wants.
yeah but isn’t he just picking a number to stake out a position? I don’t believe he actually has a plan that costs $525M that would also meet our needs. Just wants it to cost less so he can be a hero now and in 20 years when chickens come home to roost it will be our kids problem, not his. our needs are expensive, but not meeting them is more expensive.
The Queen of the Gold Coast in the gilded County of Lincoln will not be pleased with her lemmings.
Logically this is where the state should build the new prison.
Logic and Lems do not go together.
Why does Lems get all of the blame when some other huge money waster has had his jaws flapping since day one?
Mr. Jackley? Yes, he is a huge money waster, but his flapping is self-service while Ms. Lems and her Lemsings are just ignorant or NIMBYs.
No, definitely not Jackley.
I’d like to see it built in Huron.
Give that community a shot in the arm. It would benefit the NE part of SD as well as Huron isnt far from Mitchell, Brookings, Watertown and Aberdeen.
Plenty of work force to pull from.
Much shorter trip For the inmates too!
Aberdeen lacks water needed for this facility. The legislators in the area have been too busy with culture war, imaginary China lawsuit, anti-vaxx and banning fluoride in public water bills to get anything done up there.
What? Watertown is an hour and a half away. Same with Aberdeen. Brookings is an hour and a quarter. Mitchell is an hour. How is this “not far” for a daily work commute?
As a whole, does Huron want it there? If not, then we’ll jump from the frying pan into the fire and begin a whole new set of protests while flushing the $50m already spent down the drain.
Imagine the additional carbon footprint of 400 guards driving 2 hours each day from Aberdeen and Brookings and Watertown. Imagine the cars Mr. Doeden might sell to prison guards putting 40,000 miles a year on their cars, just to get to work. Imagine the wailing of the union bosses, insisting the tax payers provide daily bus service or pay a massive commuting fee to these fellows. Huron is bad, it is very bad.
i believe they would largely welcome it. blue collar, industrial community; law enforcement/corrections jobs would be great additions both in terms of our values and our economy. no need to commute, we can build here. tired of watching sioux falls area get the best of everything and look every gift horse in the mouth.
while the original site is preferred for many good reasons, if we are going to consider an alternative we should spend taxpayer dollars in communities that are smart enough to welcome it.
The Sioux Falls area has a work force that can support it. It’s a numbers game.
To put a finer point on this: In April 2025, the civilian labor force in Huron, SD was 6,714. This represents 66.8% of the city’s population aged 16 years and older, according to the South Dakota DOL. THE DOL also states the unemployment rate was 1.8%. If we assume, nonsensically, that every one of these people was able to be a guard and didnt have criminal charges or anything that would prevent them from working at the SDSP, it’s a little over 120 people, or a little more than a quarter of what is needed. The math just doesnt math.
we would have to attract people, for sure. but if the railroads hadnt been able to do that, none of our communities would exist. I don’t think Sioux Falls area has enough in their current population to fill these jobs either, for that matter. Even there, the typical case for the guards will be someone who attended some level of education in public safety and then move to some town, attracted by the opportunity. So why can we attract to SF but not Huron? Again, I agree the original site was the origiinal site for a reason. Undeniable, but I’m also glad to see Huron getting some love. Worth a look.
Nightlife? Breakfasting joints? Highbrow art shows?
often all three at the same establishment!
They are attracted to SF because it’s the business hub of the state and has more opportunity. There is also more to do. It’s also the home of two major health systems with the most specialty docs. Huron is pretty isolated.
not totally isolated, but perhaps being sequestered is not a bad feature for a prison. i don’t think a prison guard or food service worker cares if a bunch of trust money is managed in the city they work in. They are attracted to the job that fits their skills and pays them. I agree the healthcare angle is great for Sioux Falls. Two hours on four-lane highways is not horrible for access to that, its nearly like being a couple hours from Rochester! I’ve been able to live a fine life here and think others could too.
Why does Lems get all of the blame when some other huge money waster has had his jaws flapping since day one?
One word, “duh”.
The current facility in Sioux Falls is good enough. We do not need a new facility. The State, and the previous legislature (2016-2020) lied to us. The building is safe, sound, and solid. We also own 28 acres to the west along the diversion channel, we can build annex on that land. Stop wasting our tax payer money. We do not want to spend $1 billion dollars putitng us in debt.
It’s a century and a half old and has been stated by the state DOC and many employees as too old and increasingly dangerous as a result. Who is the source for your claim that the building is “safe, sound, and solid?”
A few more years and it will be a $4B prison! At some point, it will be cheaper to just build a wall around the state and call the whole state a prison. Maybe when Kristi is done she can come back and be the warden. We loves her! She could force us to do anything she wants, and that would make me a happy victim!
Yeah, the state pen probably isn’t very nice. But does it need to be? maybe we keep what we have, and build a smaller facility in Huron or Aberdeen. Does it all need to be on one big beautiful campus? I would think not. Seems like there’s some sense in keeping prisoners in smaller and more regional facilities. The worst offenders could and should be on the hill in Sioux Falls overlooking the beautiful and smelly Chinese-owned Smithfield facility, which overlooks the Sioux Falls namesake waterfall.
Maybe we could invest some of these saved up dollars back into university housing at places like USD so we’re attracting the type of people we want in South Dakota, instead of spending it on a new Lincoln County campus because some consultant says we should.
The hill isnt safe. That’s not only relevant to the prisoners, but also to the innocent people who work there. And you want to put the MOST dangerous inmates there? Help me understand.
No to Aberdeen!