Site tour marks South Dakota's expanding prison exploration

Governor's office maintains all proposals will get fair consideration after hitting pause on $825M Lincoln County plan

(Courtesy of SiouxFalls.Business)

Up to a dozen project alternatives to the South Dakota Department of Corrections’ plans for a men’s prison in Lincoln County could be on the table.

The Project Prison Reset Task Force, convened by Gov. Larry Rhoden to chart a path forward in addressing the state’s corrections needs, has begun reviewing potential land or design concepts different from a stalled $825 million multi-security level prison. That plan had the new facility about 20 miles south of the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls, where it has operated for more than a century.

As part of its initial proceedings earlier this month, the task force opened a formal request for information (RFI). Several proposals have already been submitted ahead of the April 24 deadline, and at least one possible location — the former Citibank campus on 60th Street North in northeast Sioux Falls — has been surveyed by members of the task force.

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