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Prison population boom has state seeking space
http://www.argusleader.com/news/Thursdayfeature.shtml
Posted by Ann Bates to the South Dakota Prisoners Support Group
Terry Woster
Argus Leader
published: 1/16/2003
Legislators to hear ideas next week for handling growth
PIERRE - South Dakota's adult prison population will crack the 3,000 mark for the first time next year if current trends continue, Department of Corrections officials told legislators Wednesday.
DOC statistics given to the Legislature's Appropriations Committee project an average daily population of 3,194 in fiscal year 2004.
The rate of increase averaged about 4.5 percent for several years but has increased recently, Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch told the lawmakers. Growth last year was about 7 percent, he said, and so far this year, it's up 4.5 percent.
"If that continues, we're going to be between an 8 percent and a 9 percent this year," Reisch said.
The purpose of the meeting was to give lawmakers a quick-hit overview of programs in the Corrections Department. Appropriations members and DOC staff will spend more time on individual programs later in the session, after Gov. Mike Rounds unveils his budget recommendations for the next year.
Rounds told lawmakers during his State of the State address that he wants them to gather Tuesday to hear a report on prison-crowding issues.
Rounds said some inmates in the adult facilities are being triple-bunked, or held three to a cell designed for two. The state has about reached the limit on number of inmates who voluntarily agree to triple-bunk, he said, and forcing medium or maximum-security prisoners into such crowded space would cause problems.
He said the informational meeting is being held for legislators and reporters and for a limited number of interested citizens, depending on the amount of room available.
Kandi World Turner, whose husband is in a South Dakot prison, said she hopes to attend the meeting.
"I'm very interested in what kinds of suggestions the governor is going to have for this problem," World Turner said Wednesday.
Last session, then-Corrections Secretary Jeff Bloomberg warned the Legislature that extra room is needed in the adult system. He said continued increases in the number of inmates eventually would require an addition to the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield. He also said more space is needed for maximum-security inmates in the Sioux Falls Penitentiary complex.
In September, meeting with members of the State Corrections Commission, DOC officials repeated the warning, saying the state would have to find space for 550 more inmates within five years, if current patterns were unchanged.
Rounds told legislators that if a decision is made to build, the state has access to some amount of federal funds that can be used only for construction, not operation or other corrections' needs.
Penitentiary Warden Doug Weber told the Appropriations Committee that while the main building is a century old, it has been kept up well.
"The penitentiary is in excellent shape," Weber said. "It has a great physical plant that's going to take care of us for many years to come."
The average daily count in the prisons has grown every year except 1989, when changes in so-called good time provisions of the parole system briefly held the numbers steady, said Laurie Feiler, who develops statistics for the agency. She said records show that the number of people being sentenced to prison is having a greater effect on the population than the number of people being returned for parole or suspended-sentence violations.
Feiler said 1,011 males were new commitments to the prison last year, compared with 840 the previous year. She projects 1,056 new commitments this year.
By comparison, the number of men returned for parole or suspended-sentence violations was 360 last year, compared with 331 the year before. It's projected to be 412 this year, Feiler's statistics show.
"The good news is on the female side the parole violations and suspended sentence violations seem to be declining a bit," she said.
The average time in prison for men is 18 months, while the average for women is between 11 and 14 months, Feiler said.
"We're not seeing a big change in the time inmates are doing," she said.
Feiler said convictions on drug charges have increased recently, while violent crimes have dipped. About 15 percent of the population is serving time for a sex offense, and Feiler said that is slightly lower than in past years.
Twenty-four percent of the adult inmates are sentenced from Pennington County. Other counties with a strong presence in the system are Minnehaha, 20 percent; Brown and Lawrence, 5 percent each; and Yankton 3 percent.
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