PIERRE, S.D.(SDBA) — Plans to build a new state-of-the-art, nearly billion-dollar prison in South Dakota hit another massive roadblock on Friday.
The South Dakota State House of Representatives voted 34-35 to defeat a measure that would have required the State Treasurer to transfer over $148 million dollars to the incarceration construction fund, throwing a life raft to a plan to construct the proposed 1500 bed facility in rural Lincoln County.
House Bill 1025 went down after over an hour of debate on the floor, which included impassioned speeches from several of the chamber’s members. Proponents questioned the cost, if the project was necessary, and if it would address South Dakota’s high recidivism rates, while proponents pointed to the state of the current men’s prison in Sioux Falls as another reason that a new one needed to be constructed.
On the KSDN Midday Report Austin discussed an amendment that was going to be added to the bill.
Rep. Jack Kolbeck of Sioux Falls amended the measure before debate started to change it so that it would only transfer money from the general fund to the incarceration fund. Prior to the amendment, the legislation would have authorized construction on the state-owned property about 20 miles south of Sioux Falls. Under its previous form, the measure would have also required a two-thirds vote to advance it, given the fact it was an appropriation measure.
The prison project in Lincoln County was proposed by former Gov. Kristi Noem, but has become one of the biggest priorities of the new administration under current Gov. Larry Rhoden. Rhoden has highlighted the condition of the current facility in Sioux Falls as being substandard, and dangerous to both inmates and employees.
Lawmakers supportive of the legislation to allocate more money into the construction fund called for a “motion to reconsider” immediately after the vote took place, meaning that the House will take the issue back up again when they return from the weekend on Monday.
The governor’s office says that they plan to continue to talk to lawmakers about the prison plans.
“We look forward to continuing the conversation,” a spokeswoman for Rhoden said.
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