Formed July 1989 Headquarters Pierre, South Dakota | Jurisdiction South Dakota Annual budget $106,982,478 (2011) | |
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Preceding agency Board of Charities and Corrections, 1890-1989 Agency executive Denny Kaemingk, Secretary of Corrections | ||
The South Dakota Department of Corrections is the agency that operates state prisons in South Dakota. It has its headquarters in Pierre.
Contents
Adult prisons
Juvenile corrections
The South Dakota corrections system has the Juvenile Corrections System, its network of juvenile facilities.
The State Treatment and Rehabilitation Academy (STAR Academy) is located in unincorporated Custer County, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Custer on U.S. Highway 385. STAR Evergreen High School serves as the middle and high school for delinquent youth. The STAR campus includes several units. The STAR Admissions Unit processes new arrivals. The Youth Challenge Center and the Patrick H. Brady Academy serve young men. The QUEST and Excel programs serve young women.
The West Farm in unincorporated Minnehaha County, near Sioux Falls, serves as the juvenile transitional care facility for boys who are about to go back into their communities. STAR Academy and Patrick H Brady Academy closed in April 2016. All juveniles are housed in private placements supervised by Juvenile Community Corrections staff.
Prison Gang Activity
Over the past ten years leading to 2010, prison staff have identified approximately 150 different gangs in South Dakota's State Prisons. Of those, eight are currently active at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Most have racial allegiances, like the Gangster Disciples, an African American street gang and the Sureños, a Hispanic street gang. Warden Doug Weber told KSFY-TV that two gangs actually formed at the South Dakota State Penitentiary: the Family Brotherhood is an Ayran gang and the Red Brotherhood is a Native American gang.