A new prison has been formally planned by the state Legislature. Now, lawmakers’ justifications for their votes have been laid out for all voters.
One Senator with a unique perspective is Rapid City Republican Sen. Helene Duhamel. She isn’t the only state lawmaker with a law enforcement background, but she does hold firsthand experience with jails.
In her day job, she serves as the public information officer for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, one of the largest law enforcement departments in the state.
Part of that office’s responsibility lies in the operation and management of the Pennington County Jail, a chronically full, often understaffed facility which itself is angling for an upgrade. Currently, the fate of that upgrade is still up in the air.
After the vote on the floor of the Senate, Duhamel said there’s no question her experience with those challenges informed her opinion in Pierre.
“It did very much, and I was going to stand and say some of this but truly, if people care about public safety, you can’t vote no,” Duhamel said.
That’s because she’s seen firsthand the difference adequate facilities can make for inmates and employees.
“Our sheriffs, our police chiefs, our states attorneys are begging legislators to finally do the right thing," Duhamel said. "Safety is the number one thing, and you don’t have a safe environment in a 144-year-old facility that’s antiquated with bars.”
For context, the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Franscisco was opened as a jail in 1933, over 50 years after South Dakota’s state prison first opened its doors.
“This was a common-sense vote to do the right thing at the right time," Duhamel said. "If we truly want rehabilitation, the inmate as well as the staff member, has to feel safe.”
In 2011, a corrections officer was murdered by two inmates at the hill, and numerous inmate deaths have been tallied in the years since.