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State delays Rapid City prison, studies options
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FarkThe state has delayed plans for a new prison in Rapid City and won't ask the 2009 Legislature to fund the minimum-security project.
But Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch told members of the Corrections Commission Tuesday he'll find another way to open a 280-bed unit, including looking at other sites.
Factors prompting the delay include the tight state budget, increased construction costs and Pennington County's decision not to partner with the state for work-release space, he said.
About one-third of the state's minimum-security prisoners are from the Black Hills area, but the state has just 100 temporary beds there, not the 300 it needs, Reisch said.
"We have the legislative approval to build the unit. We just don't have the money," he said.
"One way or another we are going to get this thing done."
The prison has been in the works since 2003 when the Legislature voted to add 800 beds to the Corrections system, 200 of which would be in Rapid City.
The state opened a temporary unit that houses up to 102 minimum-security inmates, but the permanent site has been delayed.
The 2007 Legislature authorized the purchase of 5 acres in Rapid City for $500,000. Neighbors opposed it so the city sold up to 30 acres near the landfill to the state for $1.
The overall cost of the current building proposal on 20 acres of that site would be about $15 million, which includes more than $2 million just to extend utilities, Reisch said.
The state might save about $2 million if it goes with different building materials and he said he's also looking at other locations in Rapid City.
Rep. Garry Moore, D-Yankton, chairman of the Corrections Commission, said neighborhood opposition, which already delayed the project, would be unfortunate.
Yankton is home to the state Human Services Center and a minimum-security federal prison in the middle of town and has had no trouble with inmates from either place, he said.
"You're seeing boogeymen that just aren't there," Moore said.
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