NCJ Number
139744
Date Published
1990
Length
72 pages
Annotation
The 1990 report of the South Dakota Corrections Commission identifies pertinent corrections issues in South Dakota and provides information on prison population projections, crimes, and penalties.
Abstract
Areas of Commission interest during 1990 included regional jails, parole and probation services, alternative facilities for those convicted of drug possession, alternative facilities for certain sex offenders, sentencing guidelines, additional prison construction, and halfway houses and other community service programs. The design capacity of adult correctional facilities under the jurisdiction of the South Dakota Corrections Commission totals 1,110, including 1,042 male inmates and 68 female inmates. Problems faced by the Commission relate to prison overcrowding, changes in the type of sentenced offenders and their program needs, rising crime rates, and public fear of crime. Prison population projections for 1995 indicate 1,729 male and 128 female inmates, substantially higher than than 1,294 male and 97 female inmates in 1991. Nine crimes constitute 78 percent of the crimes for which inmates are incarcerated (grand theft, burglary, drug offenses, rape, sexual contact, aggravated assault, driving while intoxicated, murder, and robbery). Recommendations to improve South Dakota's correctional system focus on data collection, parole and probation, education and training, facilities, prison industries, community alternatives, and prison capacity. Consideration is also being given to electronic surveillance, house arrest programs, boot camps (shock incarceration), work release, intensive probation, structured sentencing, private sector programs versus publicly-run facilities, community-based programs versus single-site facilities, earned good conduct time, and juvenile corrections.