South Dakota Sec. of Corrections Denny Kaemingk will retire in early January.
Kaemingk has served as Secretary of Corrections since 2011, following a thirty-three-year career in law enforcement and criminal justice.
Gov. Dennis Daugaard says as we saw this week, the Secretary of Corrections has a difficult role. He says Kaemingk has led efforts to address drug addiction and mental health in the corrections system and he has prioritized the safety and security of staff, inmates and the public.
Kaemingk will retire at the conclusion of the Daugaard administration, which will end on January 5, 2019.
Kaemingk’s law enforcement career began in 1976 as a patrolman in the Mitchell Police Department. He later advanced to drug investigator, detective, special investigator for the Attorney General’s Office, and captain of detectives, before retiring from the police department in 2000. From 2002 to 2011, he served on the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and had just started his fourth year as chairman, when he was appointed secretary.
