Plan for Lincoln County men’s prison draws scrutiny over site selection and $825 million project cost

The Department of Corrections presented detailed planning and financing information for a proposed men’s facility in Lincoln County, describing a multi‑custody design, the procurement of state lands, and an estimated total project cost the department put at $825 million.

Secretary Kelly Wasco said the design is for a multi‑custody, intake and long‑term facility that would hold 1,512 general population beds plus an intake unit of 72 beds. "The 737 is the maximum that can be spent on construction," she told the committee when discussing the guaranteed maximum price, and then said the total project cost including utilities, insurance and commissioning was $825,000,000.

Site selection, land trust and due diligence

Ryan Brunner of the governor’s office, who spoke about the site search and land interests, said the state examined multiple properties over roughly 18 months and ultimately used 320 acres of state‑owned school and public lands. Brunner described the constitutional requirements for using school trust land: the trust must be made whole when land is converted to another public purpose; he said the state paid roughly $7.9 million to satisfy that requirement. Brunner said the site met utility and environmental due diligence and that purchasing privately held industrial land near Sioux Falls would have been far more expensive.

Budgeting and funding history

Wasco and other officials walked the committee through a multi‑year funding history: earlier transfers into an "incarceration construction fund," design and land purchases authorized in legislative sessions, and an appropriation in 2024 that included ARPA funding for water and sewer infrastructure. The department said it expects to seek final appropriation authority and operating funding through separate bills (department staff identified House Bill 1017, House Bill 1340, Senate Bill 49 and other transfer measures in their chronology). The department plans to request the construction authority bill this session (identified in testimony as HB 1025) and said the bill will go through House State Affairs before appropriations and the Joint Committee of Appropriations.

Cost and operating estimates

The department presented its consultant estimates for the new facility: 441.5 FTE and $36.7 million in personal services using FY25 rates, and total operating costs of about $55 million. The department said the net increase to the statewide corrections operating budget after transfers and decommissioning of the peer minimum center would be about 240 additional FTE and roughly $21.6 million in ongoing costs.

Community, transportation and environmental questions

Lincoln County officials and residents raised questions about roads, drainage and flooding; Department of Transportation staff said they will study truck traffic, intersection upgrades and haul‑route impacts and will seek to work with local governments on improvements. DOT staff noted the township road connecting the site to state highways is about four miles long and said any haul‑route impacts would require contract provisions so local governments would not bear the cost of heavy‑construction traffic damage.

Local residents and several members of the Legislature questioned whether the department had sufficiently explored alternate sites (including the West Farm and existing contiguous land across the canal), whether the design had to be a multi‑custody intake facility and what the long‑term plan is for Jamieson and other Sioux Falls‑area facilities. Several corrections staff testified about safety concerns in existing facilities and urged the committee to approve a modern facility.

Next steps and legislative process

Department officials said site‑preparation work began after design and land appropriation bills passed in prior sessions; they said full construction authority and appropriation will require further legislation. Officials told the committee they will appear at bill‑hearings and provide additional answers to detailed technical questions, and that the project timeline includes multiple future appropriations and operating budget requests.