Prisons: An Unwanted Need
Rep. Will Mortenson (R – Fort Pierre)
January 9, 2024.
Going to prison is an unimaginable fate for most of us. Prisons are among the most unpleasant places in our world. They deprive inmates of virtually all freedoms. They are incredibly costly – requiring the state to fund lodging, security, meals, and medical care for inmates. We should not send people to prison lightly – it means that person cannot work, cannot take care of their kids, cannot see their friends, and cannot do, say, or dress how they wish. Prison should not be used for retribution and evidence is well-established that longer sentences don’t deter crime. Prison should be reserved only for those who need to be separated from society to protect law abiding citizens from harm.
I believe in law and order. Our laws should be aimed at making the public safer. Crime is deterred by strong, consistent law enforcement presence. That is – people decide whether or not to commit a crime based on their likelihood of getting caught, not whether they’ll go to prison for 15 years or 20. I greatly prefer to focus our criminal justice resources on police officers, sheriff’s deputies, and highway patrolmen. Longer prison sentences don’t make us safer. Law enforcement makes us safer.
Still, prisons are necessary. There are some folks who would harm our society unless they are incarcerated. We need prisons to protect the public.
While prisons are a need, they are an unwanted need. No legislator wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars building new prisons. No neighbor of the new prison location wants the prison in their neighborhood. Prisons are a prime example of a need, and not a want.
For the third year in a row, the Legislature will be allocating funds to construct an additional women’s prison in Rapid City and a replacement men’s prison near Sioux Falls. The new facilities will be safer for guards and inmates, include additional opportunities for treatment and rehabilitation, and should be more efficient in several respects. Once constructed, the new prisons will house hundreds of additional inmates. Given that our state is growing (around 10% from 2010 to 2020, and still rising) and the Legislature can’t help but create new crimes and increase the length of prison sentences each year, we need additional capacity.
Opposition to building the new men’s prison has sprung up in Lincoln County. I understand the concern. Folks in Pierre will remember when the prison was being cited here. Similar concerns were raised and similar opposition was voiced. The same can be said for prior construction of correction facilities, where lawsuits were filed to try to block them. In each case, the facilities were built. Decades later, the concerns are realized to be overblown. Modern correction facilities are secure, and I have confidence that the Department of Corrections are going to build proper facilities that do not pose a significant risk to the folks in that county.
I will be a strong, vocal supporter of funding construction of the new prison facilities in our state. We have one-time funds available and should avoid taking on state debt (bonds) that would pose an obligation for decades to come and cost hundreds of millions in interest costs. Delaying the projects would likewise cost tens of millions of dollars. These prisons are not a want. Legislators don’t want to have to spend the money. Neighbors don’t want them sited. But the prisons are a need. They fulfill a core obligation of state government, and we need to get them built.
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