Lincoln County site rejected as taskforce eyes Mitchell for future prison

Panel wants project costs kept within $600 million

Members of the Project Prison Reset Taskforce worked through lunch Tuesday in Pierre. (Jonathan Ellis / The Dakota Scout)

PIERRE – A committee that is studying prison locations and sizes voted Tuesday night to eliminate a controversial plan to put a 1,500-bed men’s prison south of Harrisburg in Lincoln County.

The committee also voted to eliminate the Huron site, a site in Minnehaha County, and the former Citibank property in north Sioux Falls, while also proceeding with options for what $600 million could get the state.

That represents a downsizing from the $825 million that the Department of Corrections was prepared to move forward with earlier this year. But enough lawmakers balked at that number this year, prompting Gov. Larry Rhoden to jumpstart the process by naming a Project Prison Reset Task Force.

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