As momentum towards a new men’s prison in Sioux Falls builds, one state legislator is gathering information on how to best support the Sioux Falls community.
But any support comes with a price tag legislators might not want to pay for.
“Excuse me if I’m a little pessimistic about wondering what the future will be when the part about supporting counties and cities that are taking this project on. I just hope that you’ll remember us," said Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead before supporting a motion to build a new men’s prison in Sioux Falls.
He asked legislators to support the local law enforcement who deal with some of the drawbacks from the state penitentiary.
As a result, Sioux Falls Rep. Greg Jamison put together a community forum to discuss some of those challenges. With these conversations comes financial discussions.
After rejecting an $825 million project in March due in part to the price tag, Gov. Larry Rhoden put together a task force. Earlier this month they recommended a $650 million cap for the project.
While some see that as reasonable, it’s clear the Legislature has little appetite for anything higher. When asked if financially supporting the Sioux Falls community is palatable, Rep. Jamison said he's optimistic, even though money is tight.
"But it’s pay us now or pay later,” Jamison said.
By that, he means they’ve mainly been talking about the price of the building, but there's more to it.
"We’ve kind of realized we need to start investing in the people before they ever get out, otherwise we’re going to be spending a lot more on prisons," Jamison said.
He said he thinks it’s “crystal clear” the Legislature needs to fund treatment programming now to avoid costs later. He added he would like to see it sooner than later.
“I would really like to propose something that gets addressed when we address building the new prison because they go hand in hand. And the timing would be right," Jamison said. "As well as rehabilitation programming should be at the same time because they just go hand in hand. If we don’t start rehabilitating while they’re in prison, we just as well start saving for a new prison. And we don’t want to do that.”
The special legislative session to address the prison is Sept. 25.
