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Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Dakota loses federal funds for prison rape elimination amid fears of national impact
Educational materials on sexual assault in prisons, produced by the South Dakota Department of Corrections and paid for by federal grant funding. (Photo illustration by John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) The South Dakota Department of Corrections has lost access to more than $25,000 in federal funding meant to aid in the investigation and prevention of sexual assaults in prisons and jails. The state Bureau of Finance and Management publishes a rundown, updated weekly, of dollars lost to the state through Trump administration cuts. The latest list includes a loss of $25,332 in 'strategic support' money for compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. The act requires prisons and jails to document sexual assaults behind bars, protect victims who report incidents and ensure adequate safeguards are in place to prevent assaults. The lost money would have been a second-year award in a two-year grant. The state already received $28,419. The finance bureau's newest spreadsheet lists $23.7 million in total federal funding lost across various state agencies and projects since the start of the Trump administration. The DOC says it doesn't actually need the lost federal dollars to comply with the federal law on sexual assaults in prisons. As of this week, the agency hadn't spent all the money from the first grant award. Corrections spokesman Michael Winder told South Dakota Searchlight that the agency spent about $16,000 from the first year's funding for 'educational literature and training.' That material included wall posters instructing prisoners on how to report sexual assaults, which listed addresses for anonymous reporting and the number to dial from inmate tablets to report an assault. The department also printed 'no means no' posters, six-step staff procedure cards outlining what to do when an inmate reports a sexual assault, and pamphlets on the rape elimination act for inmates and their friends and family members. The grant was awarded to help the department comply with the law, and Winder said it now does. He said South Dakota's facilities are 'continuously audited' for compliance with the federal statute. The remaining $12,000 from 2023, he said, will be used 'to provide continued training and advancement for staff who respond, investigate, and provide continued care for victims of sexual violence within the correctional facilities.' The state penitentiary's most recent federal audit was finalized in January. The report found no deficiencies. Audits of each state correctional facility since 2019, as listed on the department's website, showed no deficiencies. In 2023, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 22 substantiated sexual assault reports in South Dakota prisons. That was 22 out of 148 investigations tied to the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The department declined to offer details on the substantiated incidents, citing exemptions in South Dakota open records law for law enforcement records or records that could endanger others, as well as a provision in the act that bars the release of information on individual incidents. That most recent annual report notes that the department 'began tracking and reporting investigations in a consistent and efficient manner' in 2023. The loss of the remaining $25,332 for South Dakota was part of the fallout from a decision by the Trump administration to cancel a host of grants related to the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center. The cuts effectively shut down the resource center for a short period of time. Until the change, the nonprofit organization had dozens of employees, laboring under a collaborative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. Overdose deaths, gang violence draw charges in some — not all — recent prison incidents Many of them worked to review the audits required of every correctional facility in the U.S. every three years, and served as a resource to connect prisons and jails nationwide with partners who could help them do things like train officers on how to handle sexual assault reports. A California-based nonprofit called Just Detention International is among the organizations that relied on and worked with the resource center. Its mission is tied specifically to sexual assaults and harassment in correctional settings. In South Dakota, the group worked with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe to build a compliant sexual assault prevention and reporting framework for a juvenile detention facility. It's also listed as a resource for victims in the most recent penitentiary audit for South Dakota. Linda McFarlane, Just Detention's executive director, told South Dakota Searchlight that some staff at the resource center have returned since April, when the grants for states and the resource center were rescinded. All the audits conducted across the U.S. since 2022 remain archived on the resource center website, but McFarlane worries the pared-down staff won't be able to review them. She's also troubled that the funding cuts removed the staff that trained investigators and connected local coordinators with resources. 'Part of the problem was that this message was sent, that PREA is no longer taken seriously,' McFarlane said. 'I think people misunderstood the defunding of the PREA Resource Center to mean the law was no longer in effect. And that is absolutely not true.' McFarlane was glad to hear that South Dakota intends to continue adhering to the law, but she worries that jailers who may have never taken the law seriously will feel empowered to ignore it. 'We heard from survivors and from currently incarcerated people that this felt like a huge slap in the face, that the government was signaling that they no longer take their safety seriously,' McFarlane said. 'And from within the corrections departments, the people who take it seriously were panicked.' The former director of the resource center, Dana Shoenberg, posted on LinkedIn that the funding cut had 'scattered' its team into different jobs around the country, but said she hopes they or others continue to work 'to fulfill PREA's promise of eliminating sexual abuse in confinement.'
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Another man found dead in his cell at South Dakota State Penitentiary
People hold signs at a protest on May 23, 2025, at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) The state is investigating another death in Department of Corrections custody. Nicholas Skorka, 42, died at the South Dakota State Penitentiary on Tuesday, according to a press release. The release did not list a cause of death for Skorka. He is the 10th person to die in the department's custody this year and the fourth that will be subject to scrutiny by the state Division of Criminal Investigation, the investigative arm of the Attorney General's Office. 10 injured in prison violence days after protests over security and inmate treatment The death certificate for one of the investigated cases, that of 20-year-old Anthony Richards, lists the cause of his February death as an overdose of 'synthetic cannabinoid 5F-ADB,' a drug sometimes referred to as K2. Two other inmates, 39-year-old Jason Garreau and 24-year-old Joshua Arrow, died days apart late last month. Arrow's official death certificate has yet to be filed; Garreau's was filed last week and lists methamphetamine toxicity' as his cause of death. Wednesday's release did not say if Skorka's death is being investigated as drug-related. An autopsy for Skorka, whose body was found in his cell, will take place Thursday. 'DCI will do a thorough investigation, and we will determine what additional action is needed pending the results of that investigation,' Attorney General Marty Jackley said in the release. On May 29, Department of Corrections spokesman Michael Winder sent a notice saying the department had busted a drug ring at the penitentiary. Its staff seized shipments of drugs intended for delivery to Sioux Falls inmates via the mail and parcels delivered by visitors to inmates. 'If the results of the investigation warrant prosecution,' that day's news release said, 'criminal charges will be sought.' Jackley's spokesman Tony Mangan told South Dakota Searchlight on Wednesday that no charges have been filed for actions tied to the drug ring or in-custody deaths. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Inmate training program shelved while prison construction talks continue
Participants in a welding program for minimum security inmates are pictured at Southeast Technical College in Sioux Falls on Oct. 7, 2024. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) The South Dakota Department of Corrections will not offer a promised diesel mechanic training program in a space once occupied by a privately run metal shop that paid inmates market wages. Last August, the DOC and Southeast Technical College got approval from the state Board of Technical Education to expand the college's diesel program into the maximum security Jameson Annex in Sioux Falls. Training inmates to fix diesel engines would 'create opportunities within our community to meet the workforce needs of trades careers,' according to the school and the department's application to the board. The application anticipated an August 2025 opening. Private employers say they were pushed out of state prisons Corrections spokesman Michael Winder told South Dakota Searchlight last week, however, that the school was unable to secure funding to purchase the equipment needed to operate the program inside the Sioux Falls prison. Jennifer Lambley of Southeast Tech said ongoing debate about the potential construction of a new prison was partially to blame for the decision to freeze talks on the diesel program. The school had been in discussions with the nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice on potential funding. 'We believe it's important to pause and more deeply consider how this initiative fits into South Dakota's broader plans for addressing long-term prison infrastructure and programming needs,' Lambley said. Winder and Lambley both said that the school and DOC still aim to expand programming for inmates eventually. 'We remain fully committed to providing high-quality, workforce-relevant education to individuals in custody,' Lambley said. The diesel engine program was set to fill the now-empty space occupied for more than 20 years by Metal Craft Industries, a company that says it was pushed out of the prison system by administrators. Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko said the company left voluntarily to avoid adhering to newer, stricter security protocols. The owner of another private business that had employed female inmates in Pierre, Badlands Quilting, also accused the state of pushing it out the door last year. The shuttered metal shop's status came up briefly during a meeting of the Project Prison Reset group last week in Pierre. Consultants with the firm Arrington Watkins said the shop was empty when they toured the Jameson Annex of the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls a few months ago. The work group is focused on building options that might relieve inmate overcrowding, but its members have also focused on repeat offense rates, reentry programming, job training and post-incarceration placement. Many task force members and members of the public who've appeared at the meetings have argued that the state needs to do more to improve the chances for inmates who return to their communities after serving a sentence if it ever hopes to address long-term growth in prison populations. Last week, the group voted to cap spending on a new prison at $600 million. That's less than the consultants suggested would be necessary to build one big enough to meet current needs and address future growth projections. Sen. Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls, lamented that the cap could hamstring efforts to design a facility capable of training current inmates to become rehabilitated, contributing members of their communities. Smith didn't mention Metal Craft Industries last week, but the controversy surrounding its departure sparked a host of questions from lawmakers last year on the role of work programs within the DOC. Inmates at Mike Durfee State Prison work for the Governors Home program, which builds houses, duplexes and day cares for people under certain incomes and communities that meet certain guidelines. The state also operates a handful of shops under the banner of Pheasantland Industries, including an upholstery shop that outfits prison cells and a sign shop that prints license plates and road signs. Metal Craft and Badlands Quilting paid inmates market wages. Some inmates paid off their restitution and child support with their Metal Craft paychecks, and employees of both private businesses paid room and board to the state. Most prison jobs, by contrast, pay about 50 cents an hour. During previous Project Prison Reset meetings, inmates and their family members said extended lockdowns across the system have served as an impediment to job training programs, kept shops from running full-time and otherwise hindered inmates' opportunities to better themselves. 'There's classrooms in here that sit empty half the time,' inmate Samuel Lint told the group through a cell phone in early April. Prison task force rejects original Lincoln County site, tightens budget for new facility Programs that train inmates outside prison walls have had success, though. Twelve minimum custody inmates graduated with welding certificates from Southeast Tech last fall, adding to the 57 who'd completed the training since 2022. The welding certificate program is funded with help from the state Department of Labor. Past cohorts have had an average graduation rate of more than 80% and a similar job placement rate, an announcement on the fall graduation said. The money from the Labor Department covered the cost of books and equipment for inmate students. Dawn Dovre, spokesperson for the department, told South Dakota Searchlight in an email that part of the funding is from the U.S. Department of Labor. 'As always, if there are changes to these programs or budgets nationally, adjustments to service delivery will be made,' Dovre said. The Department of Corrections also offers Career and Technical Education courses in precision machining for male offenders at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield through Lake Area Technical College. That program didn't field a cohort in the spring, according to Tiffany Sanderson, Lake Area's president, but not for a lack of funding. The former instructor left last fall, and Sanderson said it's been hard to fill that position. Offenders at the Rapid City Minimum Center can enroll in a plumbing course at Western Dakota Technical College. That school's spokesperson told South Dakota Searchlight that five inmates graduated from the course this spring. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Six SD nursing homes are among nation's worst-rated, eligible for federal improvement program
Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Center, which was recently removed from a remedial program for nursing homes. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) Six of South Dakota's 96 nursing homes are on the newest monthly federal list of the nation's worst-rated care facilities. Five of the facilities are eligible for a special program to improve quality of care through increased regulatory oversight, and one is already in the program. The eligible South Dakota facilities as of the April report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are Avantara Norton in Sioux Falls, Riverview Healthcare Center in Flandreau, Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Village, Lake Andes Senior Living and Wilmot Care Center. One facility, Dells Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Dell Rapids, has been in the Special Focus Facility program for nearly two years. Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Center — separate from the society's similarly named Sioux Falls Village — graduated in July 2023, after spending 27 months in the program. Nursing homes are identified by the state as special-focus facilities based on their last three standard health survey inspections. Special-focus facilities must meet more stringent criteria two times in a row to be eligible for graduation. Dells Nursing and Rehabilitation Center did not pass its most recent inspection in January, so it will restart the process toward graduation. Because the number of special-focus facilities is capped, eligible facilities — even those that have earned CMS' lowest ratings for quality — can't be named a special-focus facility until other homes in the same state already in the program are terminated from Medicare and Medicaid or improve and 'graduate' from the program. That's a process that can take several years. As a result, there are homes in each state that are eligible for special-focus status due to ongoing quality-of-care problems, but can't enroll in the program. It's also why two of the five eligible South Dakota facilities have waited more than three years as candidates: Avantara Norton and Riverview Healthcare Center. Typically, the homes that are deemed eligible for special-focus designation have about twice the average number of violations cited by inspectors; they have more serious problems than most other nursing homes, including harm or injury to residents; and they have an established pattern of serious problems that has persisted over a long period of time. The five South Dakota homes eligible for inclusion in the Special Focus Facility program all have 1-out-of-5-star ratings from CMS. The federal agency penalizes and fines nursing homes for serious citations or if the facility fails to correct a citation for a long period of time. A portion of fines collected are returned to the state, which can be reinvested to support nursing home residents and improve their quality of life and care. Following are summaries of the problems cited at each of those facilities, along with the one South Dakota facility already in the program and a facility that graduated in 2023. Dells Nursing and Rehab Center: The 48-bed facility, operated as a for-profit corporation, has participated in the SFF program for 22 months. The home has been cited for 19 deficiencies since the start of 2024 and has been fined $67,773 in the last three years. It was flagged for 'immediate jeopardy' to its residents in February 2024 after a resident left the facility without staff knowledge for a third time in a year. The last two times, the patient was found wandering the facility parking lot. The first time, in June 2023, the resident was found a mile away. An alarm was set on the resident's tracking device to alert staff if the resident left the facility. The home was cited for 19 deficiencies since the beginning of 2024, with about $67,800 in fines during that time. The facility was found noncompliant for infection control in its latest state survey inspection report in March. Avantara Norton: The 110-bed facility in Sioux Falls is owned by for-profit company Legacy Healthcare. The home has been cited for 15 deficiencies since the start of 2024 and has been fined $175,402 in the last three years. It's been a special focus candidate for 39 months. The home received a serious deficiency in its November 2024 report for failing to protect a resident from neglect by a certified nursing assistant. The resident was not cared for in a timely manner, possibly contributing to two skin sores. The staff member was disciplined and educated, according to the report. The facility's most recent inspection report in March included several citations, including a quality of life citation affecting several residents primarily due to poor call light response times and aid. In an interview, one resident told the state inspector 'no one cared' at the facility, that he did not receive timely showers or help out of bed, and that staff response times to call lights vary from five minutes to three hours. He and other residents said they would sometimes have to call the receptionist's desk on the phone to ask her to send staff for help. Residents also said there were not enough staff to meet their needs, according to the report. Staff confirmed they occasionally experience staffing shortages. Administrators said they would require regular call light audits to review progress. The facility's most recent complaint inspection in April found a registered nurse was stealing controlled substances from the facility for four months. The nurse tested positive for hydrocodone and oxycodone and admitted to the accusation. Riverview Healthcare Center: The 49-bed facility in Flandreau, owned by for-profit company EmpRes Healthcare Management, has been cited for eight deficiencies since the beginning of 2024, including an 'immediate jeopardy' flag for failing to respond and report abuse allegations. It has been fined $81,568 in the last three years and been a special focus candidate for 37 months. According to the January 2025 report, a certified nursing assistant kicked a resident in the shin twice and covered another resident's mouth with a washcloth to quiet them. Several staff reported their suspicions but the staff member continued working and the nursing home did not conduct an investigation or follow its abuse and neglect policy. According to the facility's correction plan, the staff member was put on administrative leave, the administration educated staff on its abuse and neglect policy, and staff interviewed residents randomly and on a weekly basis to hear concerns or look for signs of abuse and neglect. In its most recent state recertification inspection report from February, citations included improper ulcer prevention and improper food preparation and storage. In a complaint inspection in February, the facility was cited for quality of care problems and failing to provide a safe, clean environment, among other citations. An inspector also found hazards including rusty, exposed edges of an emergency exit door, chunks of missing floor, baseboards, wallpaper and paint, and a hole in a ceiling. Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Village: The 177-bed nonprofit facility in Sioux Falls has been a special-focus candidate for eight months. The home has been cited three times since the start of 2024 and fined $67,504 in the last three years. It has been a special focus candidate for nine months. The facility was flagged for 'immediate jeopardy' to resident health in its June 2024 report because a resident left the facility without staff's knowledge twice within a few days and because another resident fell multiple times without receiving prompt assistance. In its most recent complaint inspection report in September, the facility was investigated for alleged abuse and neglect. A staff member was 'written up' for lack of care and false charting, for saying they'd checked in on residents and changed them when they hadn't. The staff member's charting will be audited, administration said in their correction plan, and the facility will randomly audit to ensure residents received scheduled baths, toileting and repositioning according to their care plan. Lake Andes Senior Living: The 43-bed for-profit facility in Lake Andes is affiliated with Accura Healthcare. The home has been cited 18 times since the start of 2024 and was fined $91,601 in the last three years. It has been a special focus candidate for six months. The home was flagged for 'immediate jeopardy' to patient health in two citations in the September report, including not notifying four diabetic residents' doctors when their blood sugar levels veered outside a normal range and failing to manage and prevent a COVID outbreak among residents. The report does not provide details on the size or results of the outbreak. It was also cited in a September complaint inspection when a resident left the facility without supervision. The facility reviewed its policy for missing residents, ran drills among staff and audited alerting technology used by the facility. Wilmot Care Center: The 29-bed nonprofit nursing home has been cited 17 times since the beginning of 2024 and has paid $10,377 in the last three years. The facility has been a special-focus candidate for two months. The facility was flagged for 'immediate jeopardy' to residents in its February 2024 report and its March 2025 report both for quality of life and care deficiencies. In March, an inspector found a water leak from the facility's whirlpool tub next to an electrical box, which increased the risk of electrical shock to residents and staff. In February last year, a resident left the facility without staff's knowledge and was retrieved by a staff member about a half-mile away. Staff left the facility's front door unlocked and the resident cut off their tracking and alert device before leaving the facility. Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Center: The 98-bed nonprofit nursing home graduated from the special-focus program in July 2023, after spending over two years on the list. It was cited for four deficiencies since the beginning of 2024 and has been fined twice for a total of $38,301 in the last three years. The home was found noncompliant during its last state inspection report in June last year for infection prevention and control, food storage and preparation, and using expired medications.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
State employee charged with forging own medical marijuana card
A marijuana plant at the Dakota Herb grow operation near Tea, South Dakota. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) Another former South Dakota state employee has been charged with allegedly committing a crime related to their job — the sixth such case since last summer. Alexandra Feiner, 24, of Pierre, is charged with three felonies and one misdemeanor for allegedly forging and approving her own medical marijuana card recertification without a doctor's approval and avoiding the renewal fee. The standard fee is $75 annually. South Dakota voters legalized medical marijuana by citizen initiative in 2020. The program is overseen by the state Health Department. Cardholders must meet requirements certified by a medical provider, such as suffering a debilitating illness, before they can be issued a card. Former state employee sentenced in fake vehicle title case Governor signs order to create secure web portal for whistleblowers Former state employee pleads guilty to faking food-service inspections Full archive 'The defendant is charged with using her position of trust as a Department of Health employee for her own personal benefit,' said Attorney General Marty Jackley. 'This type of conduct reflects poorly on those state government employees who work hard for South Dakotans.' According to a news release Monday from the Attorney General's Office, Feiner's criminal activity occurred between March 2024 and March of this year. The Attorney General's Office was tipped off about the case by a Pierre resident and former state Department of Health employee, according to court documents. Feiner worked with medical cannabis cards in the state Department of Health and was able to create and issue them. She legally obtained a medical cannabis card in 2023 but allegedly reissued the card to herself in 2024 without a medical provider certification. Feiner turned over her card to law enforcement, according to court documents. She is no longer an employee of the state, according to Open SD, the state government financial transparency website, and her initial court appearance hasn't been scheduled. Feiner faces up to nine total years in prison if convicted of the three felony charges, including forgery; offering a false or forged instrument for filing, registering or recording; and possession of a forged instrument. She faces up to one year in county jail if convicted of the misdemeanor charge of falsification of public records by a public officer or employee. The Feiner case is among six criminal prosecutions Jackley has filed against former state employees since last year for allegations related to their work for state government. One former employee, Lonna Carroll, used her position at the Department of Social Services to steal nearly $1.8 million over the course of 13 years. A jury found Carroll guilty of grand theft, and she's scheduled to be sentenced in July. Other criminal allegations against former state employees included creating fake vehicle titles to avoid excise taxes, falsifying food service inspections, and the personal use of foster family food vouchers. In response to the run of prosecutions, Jackley supported a package of four bills passed during the recent legislative session that will expand the investigatory authority of the state auditor; strengthen the Board of Internal Controls; institute mandatory reporting requirements for state employees and penalties for failing to report; and establish protections for whistleblowers. Gov. Larry Rhoden signed an executive order in April mandating the creation of a 'secure standard reporting mechanism' for employees. The portal will deliver whistleblower reports of malfeasance to the state's auditor and attorney general. Lawmakers also passed legislation this year strengthening the ability of the Legislature's Government Operations and Audit Committee to conduct investigations and issue orders known as subpoenas requiring people to testify or supply information. Last year, then-Gov. Kristi Noem added an extra internal control officer position to the executive branch and ordered state employees to undergo annual training aimed at preventing criminal activity. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
