I attended the Town Hall meeting 2/22/24 that presented information for the Fall River County Justice Center. There were three options given regarding the current jail: 1) Do nothing, knowing that the jail would be closed, as renovations and building on the current site are not viable options; 2) transport inmates to and from Winner, SD for pretrial confinement, costing approximately $1.38 million annually in wages, vehicle expense, housing contracts, etc. This would be paid solely by taxpayer funds. This is a 400-mile, 8-hour round trip per inmate for ONE court appearance. Those transporting officers would NOT be here to answer calls; or 3) build a 100-bed Justice Center, on county-owned land, with the very good chance of a federal contract to house federal inmates, creating a revenue stream that would cover the annual loan payment.
There is a fourth option. We sit by and watch our law enforcement, city and county, limit the amount of arrests made because we have no housing and no income stream. Those charged would be issued a court summons, a day to appear in court, to face their charges. How many of those charged would show up for their court date? Experience tells me very few. Fall River County then becomes an easy place to commit crimes without penalty. Businesses would close, and tourists would stop coming. Real estate sales would drop; population would drop. Money would flow right out of our communities.
Is there a chance that the new Justice Center may increase our taxes? Yes! Is the project expensive? Yes! But a well-run facility would pay for itself, create jobs, insure that our law enforcement is in-county when we need them, and benefit the entire county. Call the Sheriff’s Office for information. Come to the County Commissioner meetings. The County website has the PowerPoint presentation. Look into Bennett County’s story after their jail closed; they now have to transport inmates to Winner, and their residents are wanting a jail to open in the county.
The application process will take 2 years, and then approximately 2 years to build. We need to start building for that future today.
Doug is a retired law enforcement officer, living and working in Oelrichs, SD.