Secretary of Corrections Denny Kaemingk will retire at the end of the Daugaard administration in January.
The governor’s office announced his retirement Thursday morning.
Kaemingk served 24 years in law enforcement in Mitchell and 9 years on the Board of Pardons and Paroles when Governor Daugaard appointed him as Secretary.
Kaemingk says the Department of Corrections has seen many changes over the last eight years.
“I have a wonderful staff,” Kaemingk says. “We have accomplished many things, along with the governor’s office and other agencies. We put together the South Dakota Public Safety Improvement Act. We did the juvenile justice reform. We became, officially, an evidence-based practice department. That’s really important to me and the department as well.”
Kaemingk says he’s proud of reforming restrictive housing policy in the department, and making the prison safer for staff and inmates.
Governor Dennis Daugaard says Kaemingk led the department with integrity.