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

Guest column by state Sen. Kevin Jensen, R-District 16 (Lincoln, Turner, Union counties)

Jun 17, 2025
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VIEWPOINT | New prison a $600 million mistake in the making
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Kevin Jensen

It’s hard to know where to start when talking about a proposed new prison for South Dakota. I have been trying to make sense of everything and offering other ideas for almost two years now — I believe there are many better solutions than building one massive new prison 20 miles or more out of town.

Everyone would agree that we need to do something to resolve overcrowding, but how we do that has become very controversial. It seems like most people around the state were not paying attention to the news stories and legislation in the last session because it seemed to only involve Lincoln County, but a lot has happened since then.

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