VIEWPOINT | Criminal justice reform better than building new prison

Guest column by Samantha Chapman, advocacy manager for ACLU South Dakota

Samantha Chapman

When it comes to the criminal legal system, South Dakota has a “lock ’em up and throw away the key” mentality.

Instead of strengthening and expanding mental health and substance abuse treatment programs and tackling failing systems like education, housing and unemployment, for too long politicians have pushed tough-on-crime policies that have led us to a mass incarceration crisis – and our prisons are bursting at the seams.

In fact, South Dakota will need a third more prison space than it has now by 2036, according to a report from Arrington Watkins, a consulting firm hired by the state. The report details that about half of the increased prison population can be directly attributed to Senate Bill 146, legislation passed by the South Dakota state legislature in 2023.

VIEWPOINT | New prison a $600 million mistake in the making