The commissary warehouse at the South Dakota State Penitentiary. (Courtesy of South Dakota Department of Corrections)
Members of the advisory board that oversees state prison operations want to meet more often, tour facilities and keep a closer eye on inmate work and rehabilitation programs.
The Corrections Commission met virtually a week and a day after lawmakers voted during a special legislative session to build a $650 million, 1,500-bed men’s prison in northeast Sioux Falls.
By law, the commission must approve any spending on prison industry programming. It’s also meant to assist the Department of Corrections “in examining criminal justice issues and developing initiatives to address problems in corrections and the criminal justice system.”
The group’s scope of inquiry has narrowed considerably in recent years, however. The commission had no formal role in planning for the new men’s prison, and corrections officials told its members and lawmakers in 2023 and 2024 that the body’s only job was to approve prison industry spending.
Rep. Ernie Otten, R-Tea, who left the group earlier this year, said during a 2024 commission meeting that it’s “the biggest waste of time I’ve ever had to endure.”
Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko did not take part in Wednesday’s meeting. Wasko tendered her resignation to Gov. Larry Rhoden at the start of September, and will step down Oct. 20.
New members, new focus
Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, and Rep. John Hughes, R-Sioux Falls, were each appointed to the commission this year. Wittman was elected to lead the group at its May meeting.
On Wednesday, both new members said the group needs to meet more than twice a year so it can dig deeper and keep a closer eye on operations.
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“There’s a lot of moving parts with the recent funding of the new prison,” said Wittman, who noted Gov. Rhoden’s intent to appoint a rehabilitation task force in the coming months. “Knowing that the next few years are going to be really focused on policy, this could be a great working group for us to keep our finger on the pulse of that conversation.”
Wittman and Hughes both said they’d like to serve on the rehabilitation task force.
Rebranded prison industries
They also had operational questions for Rene Stolsmark, head of the prison system’s in-house employer, Pheasantland Industries.
A year ago, Pheasantland took over commissary operations from Summit, a company founded in Sioux Falls, in a new contract with Union Supply of Texas. Commissary is the prison store, through which inmates can order snacks, toiletries, televisions and other consumer goods.
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Inmates now manage the commissary inventory, packaging products that are shipped to the penitentiary warehouse from Union Supply into individual order bundles for delivery. Summit had previously done all that work with its own employees.
Hughes said he didn’t understand the move to an out-of-state vendor and asked if there’s a way to use local vendors for products in the commissary catalog. He also questioned the wisdom of generating income from the sale of “junk food.”
Stolsmark explained that the new setup allows inmates to learn the kinds of skills they might be able to use upon release at an Amazon warehouse or similar distribution facility. Department of Corrections Finance Director Brittni Skipper said the state’s director of clinical services reviews all commissary items for nutritional value, and that some high-sodium items have been removed.
Wittman asked about the price differences between Summit and Union Supply, noting that inmates and their families have lodged complaints. Stolsmark said the commissary price hikes square with the increase in food prices outside the walls.
Stolsmark also told the commission about a November rebranding for Pheasantland. Too many people think it has something to do with hunting, she said. Inmates and staff worked together on a new name and logo for what will be called “DakotaCORE,” which she said stands for Dakota Correctional Opportunities for Rehabilitation and Employment.”
“We wanted a recommitment to everything that we’re doing and who we are, why we were created,” Stolsmark said.
Vocational programming
Angela Smith, the Department of Corrections’ director of programs, told commissioners that the state’s seventh cohort of inmates in a Southeast Technical College welding program recently started attending classes at the Sioux Falls facility.
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The program is currently grant funded, Smith said, but that money will run out in September 2026. The state is preparing an application to the U.S. Department of Education in hopes of funding the coursework through Pell grants, Smith said. Those grants, typically associated with low-income students outside of prison, were made available for qualifying prison training programs during the Biden administration.
It will take at least a year to get through the process, Smith said. The state still hopes to start a diesel mechanics program in a now-empty prison shop in Sioux Falls, for which it’s been unable to secure funding so far. The Pell grant program would be the mechanism for that.
“We’re looking for about 12 months from now before we get full approval on either of those, and that is if nothing changes at the federal level,” Smith told the commission.
Before adjourning, Wittman said she plans to call a commission meeting once more this year, in December. The group did not vote on how many more annual meetings it would hold in its normal course of business. Wittman asked that members “noodle on” the options and decide what might be feasible at the next meeting.
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