Senate approves bills to fund 2 major prison projects in South Dakota

PIERRE — The Senate voted in favor of two bills that would fund two new prisons in the state Wednesday.

HB 1016 and HB 1017 passed the Senate with the identical number of votes, 32-1.

HB 1016 would fund the construction of a 308-bed women's prison in Rapid City at a cost of $60 million. The land was purchased in 2022.

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Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, said the facility will be based on nationally recognized incarceration standards and would help relieve overcrowding currently happening at the women's prison in Pierre.

HB 1017 allows for the purchase of land in the Sioux Falls area and design of a new men's state penitentiary to the tune of $52 million. An additional $271 million will be set aside in the incarceration construction fund for the next step of the project, which includes building the new facility, set to open in either late 2027 or early 2028.

The current state penitentiary has been in operation since 1881, Sen. Jack Kolbeck, R-Sioux Falls, said. That prison is also facing overcrowding issues.

The bills now head to Gov. Kristi Noem's desk for final approval. She included both bills in her December budget address.

Regional jail bills fail in House

While prison funding was being debated in the Senate, two bills meant to help counties ease the burden associated with the costs of building jails failed.

SB 155 would have created a $50 million regional jail construction fund that counties could have used as a revolving loan program. An independent board would have evaluated jail construction projects to see if they could use the funds.

Rep. Becky Drury, R-Rapid City, said the fund would make it easier for counties to pay for jail construction costs.

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However, Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Pierre, opposed it, saying it wasn't fair to counties already paying off jail construction costs like Hughes County. He added it would also create a new type of spending.

"If you think two prisons are expensive, try building 16 jails," he said. "That's expensive, and it's a new type of spending that we don't do."

SB 155 failed 14-54.

The other bill SB 74 would have created a regional jail authority that would allow counties to agree to build a regional jail and each county bear a portion of the cost associated with the project.

As it was explained in committee, a county that would take up a larger portion of the beds of the jail would pay a higher bond rate than the counties that took up a smaller portion of the beds.

Rep. Steve Duffy, R-Rapid City, said the authority created a mechanism for counties to help themselves and ease overcrowding.

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"The jails are not going to get less crowded, because we're going to do truth in sentencing," he said, referencing a bill that fundamentally changes how South Dakota sentences violent criminals.

That bill is heading toward the Senate for final consideration, and afterward, will go to Noem's desk for approval.

Rep. Liz May, R-Kyle, the lone representative to speak slightly against SB 74 said she had an issue with the bonding authority.

"You need to remember it is a loan," she said.

SB 74 needed a two-thirds majority vote and failed 45-23. However, lawmakers motioned to have it reconsidered, meaning the fight isn't over yet.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Senate votes to fund 2 new prison projects, including one in the Sioux Falls area