A task force looking at building a new men’s prison is abandoning a contentious location in Lincoln County the state already owns.
It’s unclear what will become of the state-owned site.
The state has spent about $50 million purchasing and developing the prospective prison site just south of Harrisburg. That cost also includes design for a campus-style prison on the plot of land.
The state started developing the 320 acres in Lincoln County because it met several criteria consultants said the state needed to consider—including the property be at least 160 acres and within commuting distance of Sioux Falls.
The Department of Corrections transferred $8 million to the Office of School and Public lands to obtain the title for the land to build the prison.
However, public outcry and lack of legislative support is forcing a task force to look for alternative sites—including site near Worthing and Mitchell.
That’s despite a recent $730,000 consultant report that recommends the state build on the Lincoln County site to take advantage of available workforce and area behavioral health services.
Some past state lawmakers are raising concern about the change in direction on the prison.
Former State Rep. Linda Duba, D-Sioux Falls, was a member of the appropriations committee, government operations and audit committee, as well as a 2022 legislative task force that worked on the recommendation to build a new men’s prison in the vicinity of Sioux Falls.
Duba said she was disheartened to see a new prison task force ignore three quarters of a million-dollar consultant report that recommends the state build on Lincoln County property it already owns.
“The group basically gave it the middle finger and said, ‘No, we’re going to go this direction.’ Not only that, but they’re putting the project at risk by capping it at $600 million to purchase the land, prepare the land, furnish the building, do the design, and build the structure. Not good use of taxpayer dollars.”
Duba said the state should pay more upfront to pay less in the long run.
Late last year, the state got a maximum bid of $825 million to build the 1,500 bed men’s prison. A new Republican majority rejected authorizing the idea. Now, officials estimate the cost to build a similar amount of beds will increase $30 to $40 million annually.
Originally, the state was looking to build a campus-style prison to last the state for 100 years. Now, a task force is asking contractors to propose ideas in four locations at a maximum price of $600 million.
The Worthing property could cost the state $14.3 million for 110 acres—a third of the size for twice the cost as the Lincoln County site.
The Mitchell property is much less—$2.8 million for 160 acres.
The Project Prison Reset task force wants prison designers JE Dunn to come up project options at these two locations—as well as expansions near the Sioux Falls prison and Springfield prison—for a price not to exceed $600 million.
Contractors say they’re up for the challenge, but caution the new scope for a 1,500 to 1,700 bed facility will mean a prison of lesser quality.
Scott Odenbach is the House Majority Leader. The Republican from Spearfish is on the project prison reset taskforce. He said any prison project idea needs a two-thirds majority support to authorize spending.
“We can be off into fantasy land on the Taj Mahal-type pricing, as some would call it. But, if we don’t think that’ll ever have a chance of passing, it doesn’t pay too far to go down that road.”
The prison task force has a final meeting tentatively scheduled for July 8 where they will hear different prison project options.
Lawmakers are scheduled for a special session on July 22 to consider the task force’s recommendation.
