Warden’s office building at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, SD (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
An Iowa prison official who’s worked in corrections in three states will lead the South Dakota Department of Corrections.
Gov. Larry Rhoden announced that Nick Lamb will serve as the department’s new secretary on Monday afternoon. The governor said in a press release that the 31-year veteran of prison systems in Iowa, New Mexico and Illinois was selected after “an extensive interview process and aggressive national search.”
“We found the right person that will help keep our corrections system strong and safe for both inmates and officers,” Rhoden said. “Nick’s leadership will ensure strong implementation of rehabilitation services that will reduce recidivism and keep our communities safe.”
Lamb is currently the deputy director of institutional operations for the Iowa prison system, overseeing nine facilities, 2,500 employees, and approximately 8,500 inmates. He’s also a retired staff sergeant with the U.S. Army National Guard. He served 21 years.
Rhoden also thanked Kellie Wasko, who resigned in a letter sent over Labor Day weekend that announced Oct. 20 as her departure date.
The three and a half years during which Wasko presided over the state’s prison system were some of the most eventful – and controversial – in recent memory for the department.
Her resignation came at the same time 20 lawmakers asked her to step down, although Rhoden said Wasko made her decision before those lawmakers went public with their demand.
Three weeks later, at a special session of the state legislature, lawmakers voted to back a plan to build a new, $650 million men’s prison in northeast Sioux Falls. Lawmakers rejected an $825 million plan to build in southern Lincoln County in February, during the regular legislative session.
Wasko had drawn criticism for her handling of the prison project’s controversies over location and funding, and for policy changes she’d instituted during her time in office.
Rhoden said he never lost confidence in Wasko, but also said in September that her departure could help clear a path for a new men’s prison.
Wasko came to South Dakota in 2022 from Colorado, where she’d worked first as a nurse and then an administrator for that state’s corrections department.
Lamb, her replacement, will begin in mid-November. Brent Fluke, the deputy DOC secretary, will act as interim secretary until then.
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