SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — As the state of South Dakota seeks to turn land in northeast Sioux Falls into a new men’s prison, much of the attention has focused on the facility’s location and cost. But less prevalent at times has been a focus on who spends time behind bars in South Dakota’s Department of Corrections.
Per the most recently available statistics from the South Dakota Department of Corrections and the U.S. Census Bureau, about 40% of the state’s inmates are Native American, while only around 8% of the state’s population is Native. But before anyone living in any community is in prison, different factors might increase the odds of incarceration.
“Access to behavioral health, substance abuse treatment and just, opportunities,” said Democratic Sen. Red Dawn Foster of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, who lives in Pine Ridge. “Poverty is a huge reason why we are disproportionately represented in prison.”
“High poverty rates, unemployment, limited economic opportunities on reservations create conditions that are vulnerable, there’s vulnerability to crime and incarceration, right,” said J. Garret Renville, chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.
“There’s a lot of issues,” Foster said. “It’s a very complex, systemic problem.”
The Oglala Sioux Tribe and Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe are two of the nine tribes with land within South Dakota.
“Education gaps, lower graduation rates, under-funded schools, fewer higher education opportunities contribute to these cycles of disadvantage,” Renville said. “I can go on: health and addiction, right. Native communities face higher rates of mental health challenges, substance use disorders.”
Foster brings up the availability of housing and culturally-sensitive mental health care while also pointing out that Project Prison Reset’s task force, whose recommendations on a new prison the South Dakota state legislature will consider Tuesday, did not include a voice speaking from a Native perspective.
“We are not at the table as a part of the, finding solutions and so that needs to change,” Foster said. “If we want to have a criminal justice system that is not just imprisoning our population, we need to have a seat at that table and be a part of the solution.”
Democratic Rep. Eric Emery of Rosebud, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, also brings up culture.
“Culture of healing, mentorship, reentry support,” Emery said. “If we don’t have those within this new prison, we’re just going to keep repeating ourselves and continuously housing more Native Americans in prison.”
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden’s website says the proposed men’s facility in Sioux Falls will have “greatly expanded” vocational areas as well as the opportunity for “Native American-focused programs.” Foster and Emery are set to vote on the proposed 1,488-bed men’s prison at a special session of the legislature Tuesday. Since the bill appropriates money, legislative rules say it needs the support of at least two-thirds of both the 35-member Senate and 70-member House of Representatives.
“I know that the status of the prison is such in a way that it’s dangerous for our prisoners and as well as our corrections officers, so knowing that I’m inclined to be voting yes,” Emery said.
But one week before the special session, Foster was not yet ready to say which way she is leaning.
“At this point, I am still doing research,” she said. “I’m connecting. I’m reaching out to the tribes because this, again, disproportionately affects Native people.”
Their votes, along with those of their colleagues in the state capitol, have the potential to impact every community within the state’s borders.
“Are we building hope and healing or are we just building more cells,” Emery said.
And unity, as Renville points out, can go a long way in helping answer that.
“The challenges are many, and what it’s really going to take to fix that is truly coming together as South Dakota, tribal and non-tribal, and advocating at the highest levels of our government to make these changes and these fixes,” he said.
Rhoden announced Wednesday a plan for a Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force. A news release from the governor’s office states the group, which will include tribal representation, will assess the structure of “treatment programming and vocational training.”
