SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Tuesday’s special session of the South Dakota state legislature is months in the making.
Back in February, lawmakers voted against appropriating money to build a new men’s prison in Lincoln County in eastern South Dakota; Gov. Larry Rhoden responded with a task force. Members came up with a new recommendation which the full legislature is scheduled to take up Tuesday: a prison in northeast Sioux Falls with 1,488 beds slated to cost no more than $650 million. Now, Tuesday’s special session is set to begin with Rhoden addressing both the House and Senate.
“Kind of setting the tone for the day, and then up in the committee hearing there will be a lot more detail discussion about the plan and that will include me and Ryan Bruner and contractors and designers,” Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen said Tuesday.
Bruner is a senior policy advisor to Rhoden. If committee members advance the new prison legislation, the House and Senate will take turns considering the bill; KELOLAND News has learned from the governor’s office that the Senate would consider the bill first. Venhuizen says the proposal’s housing units in the shape of the letter “T” means greater efficiency and a cheaper price.
“The ‘T’ shape is a very common way to design housing units in modern penitentiaries,” Venhuizen said. “It’s an efficient use of space. You don’t end up with a lot of unused floor space. Still allows enough space between the units that you have room to maneuver and day room space and so forth, but gives good line of sight for correctional officers.”
One of the proposed prison’s four housing units will be in a dormitory style for inmates who don’t need as high of a security level.
“That was a finding that our task force made was that looking at the population that we project to have,” Venhuizen said. “We could save some money by building 300 beds in more of a dorm-style unit rather than the cell block unit. Saves about $10 million.”
For the proposed prison legislation to successfully pass through the legislature and arrive on the governor’s desk, it will need the support of at least two-thirds of both the House and Senate: at least 47 members of the House and 24 Senators.
