South Dakota
Half of SD inmates return to prison, new report shows
Half the people released from prison in South Dakota return within three years, according to the state Department of Corrections’ newly released 2025 annual report — the highest recidivism rate in at least the last eight years.
Among Native Americans released from prison, 59% return within three years — the highest of any race. Native Americans comprise 39% of inmates in the state prison system — 35% among men and 61% among women. The recidivism rate among Native American women is 66%.
Department officials shared the statistics and annual report with members of the Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force at its Wednesday, Dec. 17 meeting in Pierre. The recidivism rate is seven points higher than last year.
The task force, made up of lawmakers, government officials and nonprofit leaders, is considering ways to reduce the state’s recidivism rate by expanding prison-based rehabilitation and helping released inmates transition back into their communities. The group was created earlier this year as lawmakers approved construction of a $650 million men’s prison in Sioux Falls, and it’s focusing on behavioral health, educational, faith-based and Native American-themed programs.
The group approved several recommendations at its meeting, including an endorsement of a faith-based seminary program.
Task force member Rep. John Hughes, R-Sioux Falls, said he hopes for “transformational offerings” to inmates.
“If we don’t see lives changed, then I don’t know what we’re doing here,” Hughes said. “We’re just managing statistics and personal failures.”
‘We’re not appropriately supporting the Indigenous population’
Task force member Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, told South Dakota Searchlight the increase in recidivism, especially among Native Americans, will “further strain an already strained system.”
“It’s indicative of the fact that we’re not appropriately supporting the Indigenous population,” Wittman said. “We’re already overincarcerating Indigenous people in South Dakota, and then we’re seeing them return at a much higher rate.”
The task force approved 11 immediate recommendations for the Department of Corrections. The list includes bringing back evening volunteers in prisons, designating the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate parole program as a “flagship model” in the state, and establishing volunteer roundtables to give feedback on department policy and programs.
The recommendations are “small wins or barriers that can be removed,” Wittman said, while the task force continues to work on more complex issues.
Wittman is most excited about a recommendation that the department hire a tribal cultural liaison to coordinate ceremonies, tribal contacts and volunteer access to the state’s prisons. The position should be piloted for six months, the task force recommended.
“The fact that the DOC is willing to establish an individual whose sole focus is going to be better programming for its Indigenous population is huge,” Wittman said. “They’ll hopefully identify where Indigenous programming will be most effective.”
Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, the task force chairman, confirmed with recently appointed Corrections Secretary Nick Lamb that the department would look into the recommendations and report back which could be viable options.
New corrections secretary lauds faith-based program
The prison seminary program endorsed by the task force was created by Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain while he served as warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Cain resigned from his role in Louisiana in 2015 amid investigations of his business dealings.
The program operates in 26 states and partners with accredited, four-year Christian seminary programs to teach inmates. They can earn a seminary degree through the program, often with graduates serving as ministers in prison systems.
Lamb helped implement the program in the Illinois prison system. Within months of its launch, Lamb said, he saw fewer assaults between inmates and against staff.
“Whatever your religious beliefs are, whatever you think, this program works,” Lamb said. “It worked everywhere they tried.”
Cain spoke to lawmakers in October about the program, ahead of the task force’s first meeting in Sioux Falls. He said the state would need a nonprofit to run it. The task force voted on Wednesday to encourage South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden’s administration to authorize the program.
Rhoden said in a Dec. 17 news release that he “accepted” the recommendation. The news release did not say who would operate the program, but said it would be privately supported, requiring neither Department of Corrections nor inmate funding.
“Bringing this seminary program to our state will restore hope, build character, and strengthen our correctional system from the inside out,” Rhoden said in the news release.
Jon Ozmint, the former director of South Carolina prisons, also presented to the task force in October. He said the recidivism rate for state inmates in the faith-based seminary Cain created is around 2% in South Carolina.
Wittman said after Wednesday’s meeting that she has “reservations” about the seminary program.
“I don’t necessarily support Burl Cain-style programming in South Dakota prisons because rehabilitation needs to be voluntary, secular and grounded in evidence,” Wittman said.
Despite those concerns, she voted in favor of implementing the program.
“I voted yes because, despite my reservations, I know how limited current programs are,” Wittman said, “and something is better than nothing.”
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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