South Dakota State Penitentiary

Last updated
South Dakota State Penitentiary
South Dakota Pen 2.jpg
The prison from the west, as it looks today
South Dakota State Penitentiary
Location Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Coordinates 43°34′01″N96°43′30″W / 43.56694°N 96.72500°W / 43.56694; -96.72500 Coordinates: 43°34′01″N96°43′30″W / 43.56694°N 96.72500°W / 43.56694; -96.72500
StatusOpen
Security class Maximum, Medium, Minimum
Opened1881

The South Dakota State Penitentiary is a state prison located in South Dakota's largest city, Sioux Falls. The building's industry shop makes several things for the state, including woodwork and license plates. The State Penitentiary also houses South Dakota's death row for men and the state's execution chamber. [1]

Contents

History

The South Dakota State Penitentiary is located in northern Sioux Falls, occupying approximately thirty acres. First constructed as a territorial prison in 1881, it became the South Dakota State Penitentiary when South Dakota was granted statehood in 1889. Though a large portion of the original buildings remain, numerous structural changes have occurred over the years. The main Penitentiary facility contains three housing units. The G. Norton Jameson Annex began housing inmates in February 1993. The Jameson Annex contains three housing units within a secure perimeter and a minimum security unit known as Unit C, which is located outside the perimeter fence.

Inmate employment within the Penitentiary falls into two basic categories; institutional support and prison industries. Institutional support includes those employed in food service, as clerks for various departments, as cell orderlies and those working in maintenance. Prison Industries consists of upholstery, printing, sign, decal, license plates, carpentry, book bindery, machine shop, Braille unit, garments and data entry. All but the garment and data entry work is done at the Penitentiary. Most of the work is done for government agencies. Inmates are offered literacy, Adult Basic Education and GED classes.

The penitentiary was designed by Wallace L. Dow and constructed in 1882. [2] [3] The warden’s residence was completed in 1884. In the 1890s, prisoners quarried stone to build a wall to enclose the prison yard. In 1881, Richard Pettigrew lobbied for and succeeded in getting a federal appropriation to construct the jail in Sioux Falls, which can be seen from the Big Sioux River. [4]

On July 11, 2007, the first post-Gregg execution took place at the penitentiary. 25-year-old Elijah Page was executed via lethal injection for the murder of Chester Poage. It was the first execution carried out in South Dakota in over sixty years. [5]

On April 12, 2011, Correctional Officer Ronald "R.J." Johnson was bludgeoned to death by two inmates who were trying to escape. Both inmates were arrested within the confines of the prison grounds. [6] They were subsequently sentenced to death. [7] A third convict was sentenced to life imprisonment for providing materials in the killing. The first convict, Eric Donald Robert, was executed successfully on October 16, 2012, using South Dakota's new single-drug lethal injection method. [8] The second convict, Rodney Scott Berget, was executed on October 29, 2018. [9]

Notable prisoners

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Ohio</span> Legal penalty in Ohio

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Maryland</span> Abolished in 2013

Capital punishment was abolished via the legislative process on May 2, 2013, in the U.S. state of Maryland.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Sparky</span> Nickname for electric chairs

Old Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Old Smokey was the nickname of the electric chairs used in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. "Old Sparky" is sometimes used to refer to electric chairs in general, and not one of a specific state.

Florida State Prison (FSP), otherwise known as Raiford Prison, is a correctional institution located in unincorporated Bradford County, Florida. It was formerly known as the "Florida State Prison-East Unit" as it was originally part of Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida. The facility, a part of the Florida Department of Corrections, is located on State Road 16 right across the border from Union County. The institution opened in 1961, even though construction was not completed until 1968. With a maximum population of over 1,400 inmates, FSP is one of the largest prisons in the state. FSP houses one of the state's three death row cell blocks, and the state's execution chamber. Union Correctional Institution also houses male death row inmates while Lowell Annex houses female death row inmates.

An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which capital punishment is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death row population is housed. Inside the chamber is the device used to carry out the death sentence.

Washington State Penitentiary is a Washington State Department of Corrections men's prison located in Walla Walla, Washington. With an operating capacity of 2,200, it is the second largest prison in the state and is surrounded by wheat fields. It opened in 1886, three years before statehood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey State Prison</span> State Prison for men In Trenton, New Jersey US

The New Jersey State Prison (NJSP), formerly known as Trenton State Prison, is a state men's prison in Trenton, New Jersey operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. It is the oldest prison in New Jersey and one of the oldest correctional facilities in the United States. It is the state's only completely maximum security institution, housing the most difficult and/or dangerous male offenders in the inmate population. NJSP operates two security units and provides a high level of custodial supervision and control. Professional treatment services, such as education and social work, are a priority at the facility. The Bureau of State Use Industries operated the bedding and clothing shops that were once located in Shop Hall at the facility. These industries have been relocated to South Woods State Prison.

The Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (RMSI) is a prison in Nashville, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. The prison opened in 1989 and replaced its 100-year-old neighbor, the Tennessee State Penitentiary. RMSI, which is made up by 20 different buildings, sits on 132 acres (0.53 km2) located off Cockrill Bend Boulevard in Nashville, TN. Riverbend's designated capacity is 714 offenders. Of that number, 480 are classified as high risk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potosi Correctional Center</span> Maximum security prison located near Mineral Point, Missouri

Potosi Correctional Center (PCC) is a Missouri Department of Corrections prison located in unincorporated Washington County, Missouri, near Mineral Point. The facility currently houses 800 death row, maximum security and high-risk male inmates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stateville Correctional Center</span> Maximum security prison near Joliet, IL

Stateville Correctional Center (SCC) is a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois, United States, near Chicago. It is a part of the Illinois Department of Corrections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma State Penitentiary</span>

The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on 1,556 acres (6.30 km2). Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male offenders, the vast majority of which are maximum-security inmates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansing Correctional Facility</span> Prison in Kansas, U.S.

Lansing Correctional Facility (LCF) is a state prison operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections. LCF is located in Lansing, Kansas, in Leavenworth County. LCF, along with the Federal Bureau of Prison's United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, the United States Army Corrections Command's United States Disciplinary Barracks, and Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility in Fort Leavenworth are the four major prisons that give the Leavenworth area its reputation as a corrections center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison</span>

Opened in 1969, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (GDCP) is a Georgia Department of Corrections prison for men in unincorporated Butts County, Georgia, near Jackson. The prison holds the state execution chamber. The execution equipment was moved to the prison in June 1980, with the first execution in the facility occurring on December 15, 1983. The prison houses the male death row, while female death row inmates reside in Arrendale State Prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Transition Center</span> Prison in Baltimore, Maryland

The Maryland Metropolitan Transition Center (MTC), formerly known as the historic "Maryland Penitentiary", is a maximum pre-trial security Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services prison located in Baltimore facing Greenmount Avenue between Forrest Street and East Madison Street. It was established in 1811 as the first prison in the state and the second of its kind in the country and the original buildings faced towards East Madison Street above the east bank of the Jones Falls stream and adjacent to the old stone walls of the Baltimore City Jail, earlier established in 1801, rebuilt in 1857–1859, and later in 1959–1965.

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of South Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missouri State Penitentiary</span>

The Missouri State Penitentiary was a prison in Jefferson City, Missouri, that operated from 1836 to 2004. Part of the Missouri Department of Corrections, it served as the state of Missouri's primary maximum security institution. Before it closed, it was the oldest operating penal facility west of the Mississippi River. It was replaced by the Jefferson City Correctional Center, which opened on September 15, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital punishment in Mississippi</span> Overview of the use of capital punishment in the U.S. state of Mississippi

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Mississippi.

Chester Allan Poage was an American man who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by three men in Spearfish, South Dakota, on March 13, 2000. Elijah Page, Briley Piper, and Darrell Hoadley were convicted of the torture and murder of Poage. Page and Piper were sentenced to death, while Hoadley was sentenced to life in prison. Page was executed by lethal injection on July 11, 2007, becoming the first person to be executed in South Dakota since 1947. Piper remains on death row, and is the only person left on death row in South Dakota.

The execution of Charles Rhines occurred on November 4, 2019, at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Rhines was executed for the 1992 murder of Donnivan Schaefer, whom he killed during a burglary at a doughnut shop in Rapid City. His execution generated attention due to claims that the jury had sentenced him to death because he was gay and that his death sentence was tainted by anti-gay bias. Rhines remains the most recent person executed in South Dakota.

References

  1. "http://images.publicradio.org/content/2006/08/21/20060821_executionwideshot_39.jpg"
  2. "Encyclopedia of the Great Plains | DOW, WALLACE (1844-1911)". plainshumanities.unl.edu. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  3. "History :: SD Dept. of Corrections". doc.sd.gov. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
  4. "South Dakota Department of Corrections". Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
  5. "Death of man who tortured, killed teen to mark S.D's first execution in 60 years". The Denver Post . July 11, 2007.
  6. "Correctional officer killed in incident at State Penitentiary - KSFY News - Sioux Falls, SD News, Weather, Sports". Archived from the original on 2013-01-27. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  7. "Inmate sentenced to death in prison guard murder".
  8. https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/10/16/us/ap-us-south-dakota-execution.html?hp [ dead link ]
  9. "South Dakota executes inmate whose brother was put to death in Oklahoma after Supreme Court clears way".