Residents, voters, concerned landowners and those looking for more information gathered Wednesday, September 25 at the Prosper Country Warehouse & Event Hall to listen to representatives from NOPE (Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion) in Lincoln County and raise concerns, ask questions, hear from local elected officials and experts on the issues surrounding the proposed South Dakota State Penitentiary location in Lincoln County.
Kyah Broders, President of NOPE, joined by Vice President, Madeline Voegeli on the stage Wednesday night to moderate the public forum and provide more information on the new men’s penitentiary and the land surrounding it. Broders and Voegeli welcomed members of the Lennox City Council, Commissioner Joel Arends and Chairman Jim Jibben as well as two District 16 Representatives, Karla Lems and Kevin Jensen as well as former Speaker of the House, Steven Haugaard. NOPE Lincoln County reached out to Governor Kristi Noem and Department of Corrections Secretary Kelly Wasko for the forum but received no representation at the meeting.
“NOPE in Lincoln County is more than just an organization opposing prison expansion we stand for a future where community voices are respected and decisions like the one about the penitentiary are made with transparency and community welfare at the forefront. Our mission is rooted in advocacy, education, and collaboration as to strive to protect the way of life we hold dear, while addressing the challenges facing us,” Broders said.
A representative for NOPE gave some background on where the land is and how it was acquired.
“They asked me to give a brief history of the land, I have farmed it for 42 years, 32 years for the state. It actually was a legal relinquishment from someone who died without a will and no heirs, but technically, it was a gift because both the owner and their personal representative knew that if they didn’t do something with it, it would be relinquished to the state. They were told that would go to school and public land. This couple had no children, they were very active in the state and loved South Dakota,” he said.
Rural county impact, presence of drugs in the area, strategic and comprehensive plans, area zoning and quality of life are all reasons the public does not want the prison to be built in Lincoln County.
District Representative Kevin Jensen was present to hear the concerns of those who voted him into office.
“This isn’t just about the location, it’s about the entire concept and policy and procedures and management by the DOC that’s bringing all of this to a head,” he said.
Jensen had previous law enforcement experience, working in a Sheriff’s Office and a jail in his career before serving the last eight years in the House of Representatives.
“We were told at one time that the Jameson addition was built to have a second floor. Well, there’s some truth to that, Department of Corrections secretary, Kelly Wasko says it’s absolutely untrue, but what I have found is the D-wing, it was built in 2006 and was designed for a second and third floor which would add another 192 spaces,” he said.
Jensen believes safety is a main concern when it comes to the location choice.
A crowd member asked if anywhere else was looked at to build the prison.
“They looked at Yankton, but they said no, they didn’t look into expanding into Sioux Falls, they just said that’s not even on the table to look at it,” Jensen said.
Another crowd member stood and asked if they said no, why can’t we?
“That’s probably the best question of the night, because we don’t know. The Director of Corrections was for eight years the commission of public school and lands, and when this land was inherited a number of years ago and I live seven miles away, I had no clue it was public land, a lot of people in the area didn’t, so when they called me a year ago in June, he was probably the only one that knew that site existed,” Jensen responded.
One crowd member pointed out that there will be 1,500 beds, 250 employees and with the roughly 2,500 people living in Lennox currently, the amount of sewer water would increase exponentially and questioned whether the treatment facilities could handle the extra capacity when the current facility is already on the verge of being outdated.
“That’s a big reason why we are here tonight and appreciate the engagement. We know as of right now that the utilities for what they’ve tied into is South Lincoln Rural Water for sure and we’ll continue to have conversations with those board of directors so the current residents that inhabit that area have enough for drinking water and current domestic use,” Broders said.
The Mayor of Harrisburg was asked to join the meeting to explain to residents why they made the decision to vote no to the water treatment plant. The Mayor had a last minute commitment and was unable to attend the event. A Harrisburg council member stood in for the mayor to present to the public why the Harrisburg City Council voted no.
“The state approached Harrisburg with a contract for Harrisburg to take their wastewater and at that time they had offered for the initial hooking up to the wastewater in Harrisburg and offered just shy of $7.2 million like Representative Jensen said,” she said.
One resident asked when the city officials gave City Administrator, Nate Vander Plaats the okay to approach the prison for the project and was met with an applaud of approval from others in the audience. Voegeli took a moment to respond to the resident’s comment.
“Nate is the one who approached the state and is putting together a FAQ sheet as far as understand and looking through mid-October, he wants to release it to the Lennox community. But I want to make sure we know that that is in the works,” Voegeli said.
Lennox City Council Alderman, Chad Swier and Sam Bowers, were present to share their experiences.
“We don’t have the answers yet, no decisions have been made, we’re not endorsing or not endorsing it, we’re just here gathering information. We’re going to do what’s best for Lennox, that’s what we’re focusing on,” Swier said.
The next topic focused on public transportation, roadways, and what will happen to inmates who are released from custody not needing parole and no longer in state custody.
“Currently, when inmates are released from the pen, that is all that happens, they are just released. So when we look at it in this location, we don’t have a bus stop within the block like the current facility, so what does that look like. That brings us to the lack of support for offenders and families. Sioux Falls offers so much social support that unfortunately Lincoln County just cannot provide for the incarcerated. They have so many social support systems like The Banquet, St. Francis House, Falls Community Health, and the Glory House that are there to support inmates,” Voegeli said.
Voegeli believes that the state will use eminent domain for infrastructure in the area.
“My husband’s family and now him and I have been on that land since 1892. My son is the sixth John (Steever) to live on the land so we’re really proud to be part of the Lennox community, and we are part of the community. This is where we go to church, this is where our kids go to school, this is where we shop, we are huge supporters here and that’s important for a reason,” Sara Steever said. Steever was present to give a perspective on property rights and eminent domain. The family has dealt with a couple domain issues including Lewis & Clark water pipeline, carbon pipelines and now the family is facing water and sewer lines.
“Property rights aren’t just for farmers or even acreages, property is what separates one individual from another and individuals are only free to the extend that they have sole or exclusive dominion over their property. You all go to work every day so that you can acquire property and the freedom that comes with it and that’s true of everyone in Lennox, it’s true of your neighbors that are here,” Steever added.
Real estate prices have potential to fluctuate because of the prison being so close. Landowners who thought they were in their forever homes are now seeing less dollar per square foot than they were before the prison proposal.
“Real estate price changes our taxes as we experience year after year and we’re going to experience increases by paved roads, sewage, water increase, power and gas needs. Keep in mind, this 1,500 bed facility, these people are not going to be paying taxes, there’s going to be legal representation, yes, there was a bill passed last year that there will be representation that will be covered from the state aspect, however, considering that a lot of these lawyers are going to be traveling from Sioux Falls, they bill per hour when traveling, and it is a state expense regardless if it’s local or state, we’re still paying for that if we add 1,500 non tax paying citizens,” Broders said.
Karla Lems shared what she has been given as a state official and told the audience the first time they expect to see hard numbers is in November. Lems spoke to County Commissioners, took prison tours, spoke to members of appropriations, the auditor and many others in Minnehaha County to find out how much it costs to have a penitentiary in Minnehaha County but has not heard back on if they have the information available.
“I wanted to point out that on the floor of the house, that it was stated that this would be built in the Sioux Falls area and it would be built in Minnehaha County, yet here we are tonight, and we know that that is not the case. Even when we are voting on some of this stuff in Pierre, we don’t always get the clear information until after the fact,” Lems said.
The prison project is projected to be the costliest project in the state’s history.
“They were told in 2022 by a company called DLR, I wasn’t in the legislature yet, the Department of Corrections had asked for a cost estimate on 18 projects and what the DLR group came up with in January of 2022 was $608 million and inflation was built into those numbers. DLR said in the report that the men’s prison, the number one thing on the list was $338,500,000 approximately. Now we are told because we got an estimate from a different company that we are looking at about $700 million and one of the appropriators I talk to are saying it’s probably going to be over a billion,” Lems said.
The cost is only for the construction portion of the project while all other prisons in the state will remain open.
“Currently we have $569 million in the incarceration construction fund in the state with $62 million of that in the prep area. Of that $62 million, $22 million has already been spent on the site, but now remember I told you on the floor of the house we’re not voting on where the location is, yet we’re spending all this money,” she said.
Former Speaker of the House, Steven Haugaard was the last presenter of the night to discuss the staffing needs of a new facility, medical emergency response time, and what is happening with the location.
“If we’re talking about a pipeline running in Lennox, it’s a big issue, I would say if Joel and I were sitting around for a few minutes we could come up with a lot of other liability issues and just off the top of my head I’m thinking what’s the liability of Lennox if there’s catastrophic failure in your sewer system and you’re still having to service the penitentiary, who is going to be responsible for that? I don’t think we should be conceding the idea that the penitentiary is ancient, and we’ve got to replace it. We just spent I think $8 million in the past five years to build a medical unit, the unit D is less than 20 years old, and the Jameson unit is less than 30 years old and that houses the bulk of the dangerous prisoners,” Haugaard said.
Haugaard stated the recidivism rate is higher than most states and those states that put their money into vocation training, rehabilitation and education are seeing lower rates of recidivism. Haugaard also shares in Lems experience when it came to learning about where the prison would be located.
“We were specifically told there’s no location decided, none of this will be a firm decision until the next legislative session and that is simply not true based on what’s happened at this point. If you’re going to spend a billion dollars on a building, it’s going to shape the corrections policies for the future for the next 50 to 100 years and we shouldn’t become a place where we’re trying to solicit out of state incarceration, that’s just not our job,” he said.