PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Members of Gov. Larry Rhoden’s Project Prison Reset task force have ruled out various sites for a new men’s prison, including the Lincoln County site where work had already begun.
The group instead now wants proposals for 1,500 to 1,700 men’s beds, capped at $600 million for everything, including furnishings and possibly land, at or near the current state Department of Corrections sites in Sioux Falls and Springfield, as well as at possible new locations in Mitchell and Worthing.
The task force made those decisions in a meeting Tuesday that started at 10:30 a.m. and adjourned at 6:59 p.m. The proposals from the Office of State Engineer and the Lincoln County site’s contractor, JE Dunn Construction, are to be delivered in time for the task force’s next meeting on July 8, when its members are supposed to decide on a final recommendation.
Gov. Rhoden has been planning to call a special legislative session on July 22 for state lawmakers to consider the recommendation. Whether that can still happen no longer is clear. Several times on Tuesday, Republican Rep. Greg Jamison asked whether the governor’s timeline can be met, and the task force’s chair, Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, put off answering him.
A JE Dunn official guaranteed that new proposals would be delivered for July 8 but he acknowledged they might lack detail. “It’s a tall order, no doubt,” Vance McMillen said.
Republican Sen. Steve Kolbeck asked whether the new proposals could include things such as steel cells fabricated by Trussbilt in Huron. “You’re going to solve the problem now, but you’re kicking the can,” McMillen answered, saying that legislators would have a repeat of the current overcrowding problems in 40 years.
The $600 million ceiling is less than the $825 guaranteed maximum price that JE Dunn Construction and Henry Carlson Construction had given in a joint proposal for the Lincoln County site. Their offer was the only one received. The project was designed to last 100 years, but it was derailed during the 2025 legislative session when the House of Representatives refused to authorize spending for it.
Former Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration had planned for several years to build a replacement for the outdated and overcrowded State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, and the Legislature established an incarceration replacement account to fund it. A 320-acre plot of farm ground in Lincoln County appraised at $7,910,000 was purchased from the state Office of School and Public Lands. A group of local landowners opposed to the plan quickly formed and tried various ways to block it.
In January, Noem resigned as governor to become the new federal Homeland Security secretary and Lt. Gov. Rhoden automatically became governor. Days after that, the House refused to authorize the funding. Rather than try again, Rhoden issued the executive order establishing the task force.
JE Dunn’s McMillen said on Tuesday that a 100-year approach was now out the door, given the task force’s decision to see what can be done on a $600 million budget. He said the proposals would instead be designed for 50 years.
Mitchell remains in the running despite its location 70 miles west of Sioux Falls. Mitchell Area Development Corporation and Chamber CEO Mike Lauritsen spoke, as did Davison County Commission member John Claggett and Mitchell Area Housing president Terry Sabers.
“We have a unified leadership group in Mitchell who would like to see the prison come to Mitchell,” Lauritsen told the task force. “We would like to do a formal presentation at your next meeting.”
Current DOC employees will be surveyed to see whether they are willing to drive from the Sioux Falls area to Mitchell or Worthing.
House Republican leader Scott Odenbach made the motion to seek the $600 million proposals and indicated that getting acceptance from the Legislature is key. “Part of this bows to the political,” he said. “We know that whatever we do, we have to get to two-thirds.”
