South Dakota

FINAL REPORT

November 2012

South Dakota

Criminal Justice Initiative

South Dakota Criminal Justice Initiative Work Group Final Report

November 2012

SUMMARYi

South Dakota's prison population has grown from just a few hundred inmates in the 1970sii to more than 3,600 in 2012. Absent a change in approach, South Dakota should expect to have more than 4,500 inmates by 2022. This growth is estimated to cost the state $224 million over the next 10 years, including the construction of two new prison facilities.

From March until June 2012, Governor Dennis Daugaard and Chief Justice David Gilbertson sought stakeholder input regarding the state of South Dakota's criminal justice system. Over 400 stakeholders were consulted in 36 meetings across the state. Following these meetings, Governor Daugaard, Chief Justice Gilbertson, Senate Majority Leader Russell Olson, and House Majority Leader David Lust created the South Dakota Criminal Justice Initiative Work Group in order to achieve a better public safety return on the state's corrections spending. Starting in July 2012, the work group analyzed the state's criminal justice system, including an exhaustive review of sentencing, corrections, probation and parole data. It has developed policy recommendations that meet the goals of improving public safety, holding offenders more accountable, and reducing corrections spending by focusing resources on violent, chronic and career criminals.

The package of policy recommendations is estimated to save between $197 and $212 million in averted prison construction and operating expenses through 2022.iii By avoiding the expansion of between 596 and 755 prison beds, state taxpayers will avert the entire cost of construction and between 72 and 87 percent of the operating costs over the next 10 years.iv

THE PROBLEM

Following national trends, South Dakota's prison population and corrections spending grew substantially during the past three decades. Since 1977, the state's prison population has increased by more than 500 percent, outpacing the national growth rate.v The population grew from 546 in 1977 and surpassed 3,600 inmates in July 2012. Since 2000, the number of inmates in South Dakota has increased 41 percent, and the number of female inmates has more than doubled. South Dakota has the 23rd highest imprisonment rate in the nation, and the highest of its neighboring states, with 416 inmates per 100,000 residents. And the state's female imprisonment rate of 100 inmates per 100,000 female residents is significantly higher than the national rate of 59 per 100,000.vi

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2010 Imprisonment Rate: South Dakota and Neighboring States (prisoners per 100,000 residents)

450

416

400

378

385

350

307

309

300

250

200

185

247 226

150

100

50

0

South Dakota NEIGHBORING Iowa STATES AVERAGE

Minnesota Montana

Nebraska North Dakota Wyoming

Source: Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoner Series.

Not surprisingly, the growth in the prison population has been accompanied by an increase in corrections spending. State general fund spending on adult corrections tripled during the past 20 years.vii In fiscal year 1990, the percentage of general funds used for all of correctionsviii in South Dakota was 4 percent. By 2010, it was 6.8 percent.ix For fiscal year 2013, the budget for all of corrections was more than $100 million, with general fund spending of $82 million, including nearly $60 million for administration and adult facilities.x

Despite this continued growth in corrections spending, South Dakota has not received a commensurate public safety return as measured by crime and recidivism rates. From 2000 to 2010, South Dakota's imprisonment rate rose faster than the national average while its crime rate failed to decline at the same pace as the national reduction.

2000-2010

Overall Crime Rate Imprisonment

Rate

US

-19%

+1.6%

SD

-9%

+18%

Source: Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoner Series. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports. Overall crime rate is the violent crime rate plus the property crime rate.

During the past 10 years, 17 states lowered their imprisonment rates, and each of them also lowered their crime rates by an average of 18 percent. South Dakota was not one of them.xi A 2011 study

reported that the recidivism rate in South Dakota was approximately 45 percent, meaning that more than four in 10 exiting prisoners returned within three years.xii

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If state policy does not change, projections indicate that South Dakota's prison population will grow 25 percent in the next 10 years from 3,673 in 2012 to 4,580 in 2022. This would be an increase of 924 inmates, reaching the female system capacity of 498 beds by 2015 and reaching over 95 percent of the men system capacity before the end of the decade. The increased cost to taxpayers is estimated to be $224 million over the next 10 years - $126 million for construction of two new prisons and $98 million for additional operating costs.

THE SOUTH DAKOTA CRIMINAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE WORK GROUP

Following budget cuts to address a structural deficit in the state budget, South Dakota's leaders began scrutinizing major budget items. Substantial growth in corrections expenditures prompted state leaders to ask whether continued prison growth would provide taxpayers the best public safety outcomes.

Seeking a better return on the state's investment in corrections, Governor Daugaard, Chief Justice Gilbertson, Senate Majority Leader Olson, and House Majority Leader Lust established the Criminal Justice Initiative (CJI) Work Group. The work group was comprised of 18 stakeholders from the executive branch, the legislature, the judiciary as well as from law enforcement, treatment providers, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.

The four leaders charged the work group with establishing a path to meet the following goals of the CJI:

1. Improve public safety by investing in programs, practices, and policies that have been proven to reduce recidivism.

2. Hold offenders more accountable by strengthening community supervision. 3. Reduce corrections spending and focus prison space on violent, chronic, and career criminals.

The work group reviewed extensive analyses of state criminal justice data including prison, parole, probation, and sentencing information; discussed the programs, policies, and practices of the criminal justice system; examined practices proven to reduce recidivism; and assessed policy options for South Dakota. Throughout this process, the work group's key findings and policy options were reviewed and guided by a Council of Advisors. The Council was composed of former Attorneys General, a former Supreme Court Justice, a law professor, former legislators, the State Bar Association President, and a Presiding Circuit Court Judge. In addition, a victim, survivor and advocate roundtable was held, and the attendees provided the work group with policy ideas and key priorities from the victim perspective. Chaired by Secretary of Tribal Relations, J.R. LaPlante, a Native American Subcommittee was formed to analyze data and provide the CJI Work Group with recommendations and feedback. Outreach and meetings were conducted with tribal representatives across South Dakota, including representatives from the tribal judiciary and legal community, Native American behavioral health and treatment experts, and tribal law enforcement.

Throughout the summer and fall, the CJI Work Group analyzed data from South Dakota's criminal justice system, focusing on the major factors contributing to the prison population.

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KEY FINDINGS

Two key factors shaping the prison population are the types of offenses an inmate is incarcerated for (e.g., drug, property or violent) and the source of the prison admission (e.g., a new court commitment or a revocation of parole supervision). For South Dakota, the work group found that: (1) nonviolent offenders constitute the majority of the prison population, with drug possession offenders the most frequent offense type, and (2) the number of prison beds used by offenders who entered prison because of parole violations as opposed to new criminal convictions grew by more than 100 percent between 2000 and 2012.

Most Prisoners were Sentenced for Nonviolent Crimes, and Drug Possession is the Number One Type of Offense To understand the standing population (a snapshot of the offenders who are incarcerated on a particular day), the work group examined the offenders who entered prison in previous years (admissions) combined with how long they stayed.

In 2012, 81 percent of new commitment admissions to prison were for nonviolent crimes. Fifty-three percent of new commitment admissions were for DUI and controlled substance offenses (22 percent for DUI and 31 percent for drugs).

Other 5%

FY00 Admissions for New Commitments 1,033 offenders

Violent

DUI

23%

21%

Nonviolent Person 3%

Drug Property

20%

28%

FY12 Admissions for New Commitments 1,186 offenders

Other 9% Violent 19%

Nonviolent Person 1%

DUI 22%

Drug 31%

Property 18%

Note: Nonviolent person offenses are those offenses that are not named in statute as violent but are considered crimes against persons.

The growth in new commitment admissions from 2000 to 2012 was characterized by an over 70 percent increase in the number of offenders admitted for drug offenses from about 200 to about 360. While there are more nonviolent offenders than violent offenders entering prison each year, nonviolent inmates stay for less time than violent inmates.

However, after accounting for the shorter length of stay, nonviolent offenders remained the majority of the standing population in 2012, making up 61 percent of all inmates. In today's prison population, six of the top 10 offenses are nonviolent: drug possession (#1), grand theft (#2), DUI 3rd (#4), burglary 3rd (#6), DUI 4th (#7) and forgery (#8).xiii These six crimes make up almost 40 percent of the prison

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