Lincoln County men's prison cost estimates could total over $567M before ground is broken

PIERRE — South Dakota officials are starting to reckon with the idea of spending more than $654 million constructing new prison facilities for men and women, a price tag that's gone up since initial estimates in 2021.

Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko was in front of the Joint Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning facing questioning on the expense of the prison projects, how inmates and correctional officers will benefit from the new facilities and what future costs could look like.

Fitting into the conversation is the wider discussion about how the state continues to move forward funding costs incurred inside the walls of its five prisons.

Wasko told appropriators the cost estimates that were done in 2021 as a result of a facility study constructed by DLR, an architectural firm, were preliminary at best and didn’t accurately reflect inflation figures during the past three years.

“The overcrowding issue is evident,” Wasko said, referring to how many of the state’s prisons are over capacity.

Men’s prison cost: $567 million

Part of the 2021 DLR study recommended the state replace the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, a facility more than 100 years old, and create a secondary women’s prison in Rapid City. That report resulted in the Legislature setting aside millions of dollars for the construction of the facilities during the past few years.

This year, the Department of Corrections has requested $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to prepare the future location of the men’s prison in Lincoln County. An additional $226 million in general funds will be set aside in the incarceration construction fund for the men’s prison.

Overall, accounting for the $330 million set aside during 2023 for the men’s prison construction and Wednesday’s budget proposal, the state will at a minimum spend $567 million.

Wasko said she hopes to have the final dollar amount in November for what it will actually cost to build the men’s prison. Then next year, DOC will return to appropriations to ask for the expenditure authority.

“Currently, we’re in the schematic phase, where we’re working to create actual floor plans, site plans and building elevations,” Wasko said, noting the DOC only has spending authority for $52 million that has been used to purchase the more than 300-acre site in Lincoln County and for designing the new facility. “We do know where we’re going to lay out on the property, the directions we’re going to face on the property and where our security perimeters are going to be in position.”

More: DOC’s lack of transparency about new SD prison could have long-term consequences, expert says

Women’s prison cost: $87 million

The new women’s prison in Rapid City, which broke ground in October, is also facing financial headwinds because of construction costs.

Wasko asked the Joint Appropriations committee for an additional $23.3 million, including $2.4 million of ARPA funds, to help take off some of the financial pressure. She added after the Legislature had gavelled out last year, the initial cost of the women’s facility had been more than $20 million over budget.

As a result, the DOC and the state engineering office worked to bring down the cost by removing the mother-infant unit expected to be housed at the Rapid City facility, changing roofing and window options and more.

“This is a case of where we had a budget that we had to try to back into,” Wasko said. “Budget was driving policy, when best practice really is when policies should drive budget just because of the changing factors: inflation, materials, trades.”

Rep. John Mills, R-Volga, questioned the rising costs of the future construction at the men's and women’s prisons and expressed concerned that the bills heard Wednesday didn’t match what was the proposed cost in 2021.

“I remain very concerned about the costs and believe they are highly inflated,” he said. “As an appropriations committee, we need to be digging into this further and pushing back, so we don’t build the Taj Mahal of prisons.”

Legislature also wrestling with other costs associated with prisons

On top of paying for new prisons, the Legislature is facing a question of whether the state should pay for inmates' defense costs when they commit a crime behind bars.

The House Appropriations heard arguments Feb. 15 about HB 1039 and passed it unanimously. Rep. Ernie Otten, R-Tea, explained it was difficult to estimate how much it would cost the state to represent these inmates since neither the DOC nor the Unified Judicial System tracks the costs.

Eric Erickson, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners, said he estimated the five counties where these expenditures originate from — the five counties where there are prison facilities — spend an average of $195,000 a year but that amount can fluctuate. Erickson explained he tracked costs by using the address of the facility as the location of the crime.

The DOC opposed the bill, saying the county costs of defending inmates should be researched more prior to the new men’s prison facility opening in 2028.

During floor debate Wednesday, Otten said he had budgeted at least $250,000 to address the costs incurred for crimes behind bars. But, in future years that number could fluctuate depending on what the five counties need.

"This gets a baseline set," Otten said, noting that the state also funds fire suppression similarly.

HB 1039 passed the House with a vote of 69-0 on Crossover Day. The bill now heads to the Senate.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota DOC requesting $236M for men's prison in Lincoln County