Christian-based rehabilitation coming for South Dakota prisoners
Tribal government cooperation also among Department of Corrections reforms recommended ahead of Legislative Session
Theology is part of South Dakota’s plan to reverse its critically high rate of inmates returning to prison after their initial release from state custody.
The Governor’s Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force (CRTF) on Wednesday urged the development of faith-based rehabilitation programming in the South Dakota prison system aimed at cultivating “peer ministers” on both sides of Department of Corrections (DOC) walls.
“This program is the premier program nationwide for transforming lives of individual inmates, which in turn transforms the culture within prison,” Sen. Sue Peterson said after she and her fellow CRTF members recommended the DOC adopt a “prison seminary model” for governing and rehabilitating inmate populations.
The panel’s endorsement comes after members heard testimony earlier this fall from Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain, who touted successes of the four-year, accredited seminary-led program that emphasizes faith and service.
Inmates within the program receive training in theology, core academic subjects, leadership, counseling, conflict management and trauma support. Cain and other backers of the approach to governance and rehabilitation of inmate populations say program graduates become leaders and model better behavior for their fellow prisoners. The education and emotional growth that the program can bring also aids graduates upon their release from prison.
According to the governor’s office, which moved swiftly to announce Gov. Larry Rhoden’s support for the Prison Seminary Model, it will be privately funded — not requiring financial contributions from the state or inmates to support operations or enrollment.
“Bringing this seminary program to our state will restore hope, build character, and strengthen our correctional system from the inside out,” said Rhoden, who announced CRTF’s formation in September ahead of a special legislative session where lawmakers signed off on construction of a $650 million men’s prison.
The task force’s recommendation that the DOC embrace the Christian seminary-focused rehabilitation program came the same day the much-maligned state agency released new data showing half of inmates released from its custody return within three years.
Recidivism rates are even higher than that average for Native Americans. According to the DOC, 59 percent return within that three-year time period, and a staggering 66 percent of Native American women end up in state custody again within three years.
That report preceded the rehabilitation task force also suggesting 11 recommendations aimed at improving outcomes for Native Americans within the prison system, including working with tribal governments.
Specifically, CRTF wants the state to designate the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate parole program as a flagship model for paroling Native American prisoners. Allowing those parolees to volunteer for community service during evening hours, creating a tribal cultural liaison position within the corrections system and establishing a practice of providing government IDs before release were also among the task force’s recommendations.
The 101st Legislative Session begins Jan. 13.
This is all well and good—especially the cost; however, we’re kidding ourselves if we think this will make a significant impact minus other supports. The primary reasons for re-offending are varied: a lack of education, a lack of employment, drug and alcohol abuse, mental and physical health, housing, financial support, family networks. Faith and a Christian community can supply some of these things, but faith isn’t a substitute for education or a job or housing or drug and alcohol treatment and minus those supports, this won’t measurably change recidivism rates.
Awesome! Happy to hear it and appreciate the continued work on this recidivism issue!