SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — Governor Larry Rhoden announced the date for a special legislative session that will consider where the next men’s prison will be and how much it will cost.
A news release from the governor’s office said the special session will be on Tuesday, September 23, at 9:00 am CT.
“When we started this process, we knew that we needed to build consensus on a plan that a supermajority of the legislature can agree on, and I believe that we are in good shape to achieve that,” wrote Governor Larry Rhoden. “The purpose of this session shall be to consider and pass legislation to authorize the Department of Corrections to do everything necessary to move forward with this project,” Rhoden wrote in the news release.
The special session comes after a series of meetings of the Project Prison Reset Task Force that Rhoden announced in February. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen chaired the task force. Rhoden created the group to answer three questions he posed:
Do we need a new prison?
How big should it be?
Where should it go?
The task force considered many locations for the new penitentiary, unanimously agreeing it needed to be replaced, after a tour of the current men’s prison in Sioux Falls.
The group ruled out all sites outside of Sioux Falls and agreed on a price of no more than $650 million at its most recent July meeting.
The decision will need a two thirds majority vote in both the house and senate to pass.
