South Dakota Lawmakers Face Opposition Over Proposed New Women’s Prison
The women's prison in Pierre, South Dakota, currently has a population of 316 inmates in a facility built to hold just over 200.
Landwebs
Lawmakers in South Dakota have proposed a new women’s prison, estimated to cost $60 million, in response to the state’s current overcrowding issue, Lee Strubinger reports for the SDPB. The women’s prison in Pierre, South Dakota, currently has a population of 316 inmates in a facility built to hold just over 200. Senator Red Dawn Foster, who recently toured the facility, described the living conditions as “inhumane,” and pointed to one part of the prison designed for two facility trainees housing nine inmates.
ACLU South Dakota policy lawyer Libby Skarin says instead of building a new prison, the state needs to focus on criminal justice reform and treatment rather than punishing people for crimes that arise from addiction. South Dakota is the only state in the country that charges ingestion of a controlled substance as a felony, meaning the state incarcerates many for drug use alone. “By virtue of our public policy we are setting up people who suffer from addiction for failure,” Sarkin said.
