SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – After a staff assault led to what the South Dakota Department of Corrections is calling a “disturbance” at the State Penitentiary Wednesday night, Gov. Kristi Noem says the state needs a new men’s prison.
Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko announced “order has been restored” at the State Pen at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. On Thursday, Attorney General Marty Jackley announced his office will assist in an investigation into what happened.
“I have directed the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to work with the state Department of Corrections to investigate the disturbance at the State Penitentiary,” Jackley said in an emailed statement. “It is the Attorney General’s intent to prosecute those responsible for any harm done to correctional officers, other inmates, and state property to the fullest extent of the law.”
KELOLAND’s Tom Hanson and Dan Santella are putting together stories on the longtime staffing struggles at the State Pen and looking at the current conditions inmates face inside the prison campus.
Noem, in an interview with Austin Goss representing the South Dakota Broadcast Association, said the situation Wednesday resulted in a correctional officer being assaulted and the officer was taken to the hospital.
“I’m extremely proud of the outstanding work that our corrections officers did in that situation and getting it under control and things back in order,” Noem said. “This was because of some tablets that were removed from prisoners. There’s an on-going investigation as to how those tablets were being used. The prisoners are still able to make phone calls and they are still able to write letters and have communication with family.”
On the DOC website, a notice dated March 20, 2024, says starting March 8, 2024 tablet communication features have been suspended on all DOC tablets statewide due to an investigation.
Noem said inmates were using the tablets for “nefarious reasons” and that’s what has prompted an investigation and study if it is possible to give the tablets back to inmates.
“They were not being used, in all situations, to just contact home. They were being used for other purposes that were not good and not legal,” Noem said. “They still have their approved list of people to call that they have access to telephones and they can call them from a different method.”
A 2023 report by the DOC said there were 193 cases involving use of force, with a majority of those uses happening at the Jameson Prison Annex and State Pen building in Sioux Falls. Pepper spray had to be used in 106 cases in 2023, according to the DOC.
The same report shows the State Pen is operating at 186% of its designed capacity. The State Pen had 792 on-grounds population with a designed capacity of 426 and an operational capacity of 837.
Noem said she and state lawmakers are working on funding and building a new men’s prison, planned to be built in rural Lincoln County.
“This facility is old. It’s even older than the state of South Dakota,” Noem said. “We can build a safer prison that can handle these types of situations better.”
