Proposed Justice Center discussed at Townhall

HOT SPRINGS – The approximate three-hour Justice Center Town Hall held at the Mueller Center last Thursday evening, Feb. 22, held a collection of citizens, city council members, county commissioners and law enforcement clad in civilian clothing.

Those in attendance were invited to write down their questions – either anonymously or with their name attached – so that moderator Hot Springs Mayor Bob Nelson could pose it to the panel.

The panel consisted of Melissa Fleming (Fall River Dispatch), Kent Hansen (bailiff), Carol Foster (former Clerk of Courts), Liz Hassett (Court Administrator for the 7th Circuit), Tammy Grapentine (current Clerk of Courts), Deputy Brandon Peterson (former Martin City Police Chief), Deputy Vince Logue (civil process server), Rachel Hosterman (Administrative Assistance with Fall River County Sheriff Office/FRCSO), Sheriff Lyle Norton, Chief Deputy Ish Belt, Cherelle Hughes (Hot Springs Police Department) and Ross Norton (Hot Springs Police Chief).

“We are here to get the pulse of the public,” said Sheriff Norton, after introductions of the panel. Pointing out that the panel was comprised of proponents of the new Justice Center.

Prior to the Q&A, Hosterman presented a power point covering the proposed need for a Justice Center including, but not limited to, the age of the current facility, the lack of safety of the bookingarea,thelackofsafety of the outside recreation area, unsafe inmate transit from jail to courtroom through public areas, lack of ability to expand the countywide 911 dispatch center, unsuitable storage resulting in damage to files from water and bats, as well as failure to meet multiple American Correctional Association (ACA) requirements According to the FRCSO, the 911 dispatch shares a 12foot by 20-foot remodeled garage area with jail storage while serving calls from Angostura Volunteer Fire Department (VFD), Ardmore VFD, Cascade VFD, Edgemont ambulance and VFD, FRCSO, Hot Springs Police Department (HSPD), Hot Springs Ambulance, Oral VFD, Minnekahta VFD, Oelrichs 1st responders and VFD, and Smithwick VFD.

Currently, all jails in the state of South Dakota must adhere to ACA guidelines, with the Fall River County Jail failing to meet many of those guidelines from inadequate cell size to inadequate number of cells and more.

According to FRCSO, renovations will not make the current jail ACA compliant.

With counties required to either house or pay for inmate housing if it is insufficient locally, the power point brought up the possible need for inmate transport and housing at other facilities.

Currently, the only facility accepting inmates/detainees from other counties is in Winner; an 8 hour round trip. These 8 hours pull one law enforcement personnel out of the county for the full 8 hours plus wear and tear on the vehicle, liability for inmate care, safety of a single officer transporting and more.

Deputy Logue further described the potential risks and costs of transporting detainees.

“There is a lot of liability along with the cost of transporting,” said Logue. “About anything you think of that can go wrong, there is a possibility it can go wrong and if something goes wrong medically with either yourself or the detainee you are out there by yourself, officer assistance is not there, this includes detainee intoxication, drug usage, vehicle break down. Every transport has about the same liabilities yet liabilities increase with each mile driven.”

Recently, the county commissioners asked that the FRCSO present a smaller footprint plan to them, smaller than the 100-bed, $30-plus million proposal.

The smaller footprint now carries a price tag of $28 million with the advantage of adding on in the future.

Offices to be included in the proposed Justice Center would be: Jail, Intake, Inmate Services, Courtroom, Court services, 911 Dispatch, Sheriff’s Office, Clerk of Court and States Attorney.

Potential use of the existing courthouse would be the consolidation of all county offices other than listed in justice center.

Proposed payment for this Justice Center would be through the use of a USDA loan at 3.75% and contractual use of a percentage of beds for Federal pretrial detainees at $100+ per day with average maximum stay 5-6 weeks and all legal, medical and transport costs covered by the US Marshall, only requirement for detainees is food, bed and other needs required by ACA.

After the presentation, questions were posed to the panel. Following are some of the main topics covered during that portion.

Q: Will you be forming a building committee to take bids from all of the different contractors as opposed to one bid?

Sheriff: “Not opposed to a building committee of sorts but we are not there yet. Elevatus architects were referred to Sheriff Office via Lawrence County and conducted a feasibility study only.”

Q: Is current facility being inspected independently?

Carol Foster: “There have been studies 20 years ago that said this needed to be done 20 years ago.”

Q: Where are the inspection reports for the last 10 years detailing what is specifically wrong with this jail complex from previous Sheriffs and Judges.

Carol Foster: “Previous studies were done 1520 years ago, ordered by commissioners on courthouse jail complex, paid for by the county. They could possibly be at the Auditor’s Office, if we keep records like that for 20 years.”

Kent Hansen: “The Courthouse leaks water and had bats that destroyed records; historical records, that can’t be replaced, they are gone. So many issues with people falling over each other on court day, it is just not safe.”

Carol Foster: “The area does not insure safety, referring to contact of inmates with public. Defendants and victims enter and exit same way; bathrooms used by public and inmates in court; there is no waiting area outside the courtroom or en route to court. Victims and the public and people that are not happy to be in court most of the time is really a dangerous thing for the public.”

Rachel Hosterman: “Court security studies cannot be discussed because of security issues, people can’t really see where the shortcomings are, public knowledge could potentially take advantage of that situation.”

Carol Foster: “Security study that was done was sealed, not public, the areas we are failing they did not want the public to know.”

Sheriff: “Don’t want your weaknesses known by your opponent.”

Q: What would be the profitability of a new jail, using Winner Jail as an example?

Sheriff: “Winner is not statutorily required to have a jail, they chose to have a jail as it is profitable. We could have a potential profit of $1.39 million per year if 35 federal inmates are housed. If we hold more, say, average 50 federal inmates for an entire year, we would receive $2 million.”

Q: What is the realistic number of federal detainees?

Sheriff: “Average of 35 per day.”

Kent Hansen: “The largest expense for the US Marshalls is the detention of federal pretrial, designations and revocations. They are going to need beds, they are always going to need beds, they transport to Scottsbluff, Neb., and many other jails. They told us that if we opened today they could bring 30.”

Q: If housing federal inmates does not cover the cost of the loan, will the burden fall on the taxpayers?

Sheriff: “I think it’s a viable option; not without risk though.”

Deputy Brandon Peterson (former Martin City Police Chief): “Let’s look into the future, if everything works out and that bill is paid off, think of what can be done with that revenue?”

Q: What is the timeframe for the new jail to be functional, if approved today?

Sheriff: “Three to four years out to put a key in the door with at least two years to get the funding from USDA, plus cost down the road can change. Seven to 10 years ago it could have cost less than $10 million yet cost will go up. Everything continues to go up, nothing goes down.”

Q: When will this go to the citizens for a vote?

Sheriff: Unknown at this time.

Q: Are taxes going up? Sheriff: “That’s the last thing I want for any of us. I don’t want to be responsible for your taxes going up.” He, once again, pointed to the revenue source of federal inmates with a 100 bed jail.

Q: What are the operating costs incurred with a new jail?

Sheriff: “We had a 900K budget in 2024 paid by tax payers; we will always have bills and cost to run the sheriff office.”

Q: What will be the staffing for a larger facility?

Sheriff: “Would require three jailers per shift except for night we would staff with two.”

Q: If the county passes, can the city build a jail?

Mayor Bob Nelson: “Per codified law they can, yet the SO are the experts. We also don’t have the land. But it’s not me that would make this decision; it would be the city council. But I believe this is the best route instead of the city figuring out how to figure out a jail or justice center.”

Q: Will the Justice Center/ jail affect the property values?

Sheriff:“Therehavenotbeen studies on property values, but we are currently surrounded by residential housing. Put a pin in the map where the current jail is and how many residences are we touching; it touches housing above, across the river, and more. There is no right answer, it’s like being a referee in basketball; half will hate you half will like you.”

Emphasis was placed on the future potential need for transporting inmates from both HSPD and FRCSO.

“There were 602 inmates booked last year into jail, with this number it would be 14,448 transport hours to Winner to get the inmates to court one time,” said Sheriff Norton. “With wages at $26/hour, we would see a cost of $36k in wages alone with an additional 722,400 miles on vehicles, exceeding their life in one year requiring potentially more vehicles.”

“Another aspect to consider is that transport creates an absence of law enforcement in the county,” said Chief Deputy Belt. “It has been proven that with a decreased presence of law enforcement, crime goes up, with higher crime rates businesses could leave, creating loss of infrastructure. I also worry about high turnover in staff, if the main responsibility is transport. Transport is not a rewarding job for someone who has chosen law enforcement as a career, a career they have committed to investigation of crimes and public safety.”

“If we would try to keep our deputies in the field, we would have to hire seven additional deputies as transport officers to provide transport,” said Sheriff Norton.

“If we do not have a holding facility transport has to be provided by HSPD,” said HSPD Chief Ross Norton. “We brought 300 inmates into the jail last year, if we had to transport, it would be the financial responsibility of Hot Springs for transport.”

“If we do not build a jail, we will end up transporting inmates in the future, period,” said Sheriff Norton.

Both Melissa Fleming with Dispatch, and the Sheriff pointed to growth in Fall River County with dispatch getting updates weekly of new roads, housing developments and expanded subdivisions.

While growth brings in revenue, it is often also associated with increased contact with law enforcement.

“Our population can grow by 4,000 during the weekends in the summer,” said Sheriff Norton.

Norton welcomes open communication with the public.

“My door is always open, I’m glad to talk to anybody, proponent or opponent,” he said.

But he does warn the public at large, “I do not have a date for you, but our current facility will close. There is guaranteed cost if we do nothing.”