State lawmakers have approved spending $3.8 million in state and federal funding for a minimum security prison in Rapid City.

The Department of Corrections will use the money to renovate a building at 2725 Creek Drive that the state bought last summer.

Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch has spent several years trying to find a permanent home for the minimum security prison. The state currently has prisoners housed in a temporary building and rents additional beds to allow prisoners the opportunity to work close to their families.

“I am very pleased with the way the Legislature supported this bill,” Reisch said Tuesday after the bill received final approval. The bill authorizing the prison funding now goes to the governor.

Rapid City furniture manufacturer Perdue Inc. has filed a lawsuit to stop that transaction, claiming the state unlawfully signed a contract to purchase the property before holding public meetings. The circuit court ruled against Perdue.

Perdue recently proposed an alternate site for the minimum security unit, but lawmakers ignored his suggestion.

Several owners of property surrounding the alternate site on Lombardy Drive objected to that location at a Feb. 25 public meeting in Rapid City.

The South Dakota Supreme Court will hear Perdue’s appeal of 7th Circuit Court Judge A.P. Fuller’s decision on March 22.

Reisch has said the first step of the renovation will be remodeling the building to house parole offices the state is currently renting.

The state says it needs a larger minimum security prison in western South Dakota because almost one-third of the prison population is from the region. The new prison will house up to 400 inmates who participate in work-release as they prepare for release.