A skeptic of the proposed Lincoln County prison site said the state should not rush to build a new facility.
That's despite a governor-appointed group having just two more scheduled meetings to determine future direction of corrections in South Dakota.
Rep. Karla Lems represents the district where the state sought to build a 1,500 bed men’s prison. Lems, who is a ranking member in the statehouse and a lieutenant governor candidate, sits on the Project Prison Reset task force — which is looking at options to alleviate overcrowding in the state’s correction system.
A recent report recommends the state immediately build a 1,700-bed men’s prison within a 30-minute commute of Sioux Falls to replace the current 144-year-old facility.
However, Lems said the task force should consider adding beds to properties corrections already has prisons on.
“At the present site between the old hill and Jamison (Annex), there’s room there for another 300-bed facility. Whether we add another 300 beds in Springfield," Lems said. "I don’t think it’s a one size fits all kind of thing, that it has to be one big shiny building."
That same report recommends the state start saving for an additional 1,500 prison beds in the next ten years.
Lems said she’d like to see a legislative task force focused on reducing recidivism complete its work.
“I feel like we are getting the cart before the horse, that in two more meetings we’re deciding how big a prison should be," Lems added.
She said if more time is needed for the prison study, the group should pump the breaks and not rush to take a vote in July.
“Maybe we get it done in the next two meetings. My feeling is we’re not going to be ready for that," Lems said. "I would really like to see that other study done before we go ahead and come to a conclusion on what needs to happen going forward.”
The next Project Prison Reset task force meeting is scheduled for June 3 in Pierre. It’s last meeting is scheduled for July 8 in Sioux Falls. A special session to vote on a prison project idea is set for July 22.
It’ll take two-thirds majority support in both legislative chambers to transfer money from the Incarceration Construction Fund to start building a new prison.
