Despite a recent report from the state Department of Corrections that a significant drug smuggling ring within South Dakota prisons was cracked, inmates continue to die because of contraband.
Drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine, or synthetic cannabinoids – also known as K2 or spice – find their way into the prison system most frequently.
Marty Jackley is the state Attorney General and a candidate for the US House of Representatives. He explained precisely who brings these drugs in.
“We’ve been able to find through investigations instances when they’ve come in through correction officials," Jackley said. "We have instances when they’re occurring through third-party visitation.”
Jackley says clamping down on inmate visitations and quote “other mechanisms” of delivery will stop the issue. Along with that, a spate of recent prosecutions involving state employees raises questions of public trust in government employees, including in the corrections system.
For DoC employees though, Jackley said his policy is “zero tolerance.”
“The Department of Corrections office of the inspector general has been very cooperative," Jackley said. "They allow our DCI agents to do what we need to do to hold people responsible. I think we need to continue those relationships, continue to be firm.”
Meanwhile, research from the National Library of Medicine finds visitations, particularly with an inmate’s family, have positive benefits for both the incarcerated and those on the outside.
Looking forward, Jackley acknowledged something needs to be done in the next legislative session.
“We need to have stronger penalties for those that are intentionally distributing controlled substances into our penitentiary, and that includes when there are overdose deaths," Jackley said. "It needs to encompass those bringing the drugs in, not just the corrections officials, but also those third parties outside the penitentiary system.”
This week’s death of Timothy Tyree marks 22 total inmate deaths in South Dakota this year.
