The South Dakota Senate has passed a bill (Jan. 29, 2026) that enhances the penalties for ingestion, possession, possession with intent to deliver, and delivery of a controlled substance in a state correctional facility.
Attorney General Marty Jackley’s Senate Bill 42 now goes to the House for further consideration.
According to the state Department of Corrections, there are varying levels of men’s prisons located in Sioux Falls (1, 2, 3), Springfield (1), Rapid City (1) and Yankton (1). For women, the state prison and a minimum center are located in Pierre, with construction of a new prison underway in Rapid City.
Jackley said his office’s Division of Criminal Investigation is dealing with 117 pending cases involving illegal drugs being found inside state prison facilities, including eight drug overdose deaths of male inmates in 2025. So far, information that’s been released about the pending drug cases has them connected to the men’s facilities, but Jackley said that doesn’t mean there isn’t an investigation or investigations underway connected to the women’s facilities in Pierre.
DCI agents are looking into how the drugs are getting inside the prisons, however, Jackley said any procedural or policy changes that need to be made for inmates, employees or visitors in order to to stop the inflow of drugs into those facilities aren’t determined by the Attorney General’s Office.
The South Dakota Women’s Prison is part of the Solem Public Safety Center located on the east side of Pierre. It houses the prison, DOC Administration offices, and state, county and city government law enforcement agencies. The Pierre Minimum Center is located just east of the Women’s Prison.
Construction of the new Women’s Prison in Rapid City began in the summer of 2024 and is expected to be completed late spring or early summer of 2026. It’ll house up to 288 female offenders.
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