South Dakota’s Recidivism Rate Is the Worst in 20 Years
Half of all people released from South Dakota prisons return within three years. That 50% recidivism rate, drawn from inmates released in 2021, is the state’s highest in two decades, according to the South Dakota Department of Corrections. The state’s best performance in that span was a 39% rate in 2014.
Corrections Secretary Nick Lamb presented a reversal plan on June 23, 2026, at the Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force in Sioux Falls. Lamb is six months into the role. His strategy centers on expanding work release programs, creating residential housing options for inmates nearing release, and restructuring the department top to bottom.
“Our population is too high for our state. We need to get our population down, but we’ve got to give the offenders the tools they need that they haven’t always had.”
Nick Lamb, South Dakota Corrections Secretary, June 23, 2026
Lamb said he wants to “start getting in the business of closing prisons” during his tenure, a signal that the plan aims at population reduction, not just better outcomes.
Work Release Collapsed After Minimum Wage Change
A policy shift under Lamb’s predecessor, Kellie Wasko, increased inmate pay for work performed outside prison walls to minimum wage. The change had an unintended consequence: fewer communities and organizations contracted inmate workers for community service jobs. Participation in work release dropped as a result.
Former Corrections Secretary and current State Rep. Tim Reisch (R-Howard) described the value of work release from his own tenure. When roughly 250 minimum-security inmates participated, he said, “they got up and they all had jobs. They were used to getting out of bed, going to work, getting in a habit of that.”
Lamb’s plan would restore and expand that pipeline. Several recommendations from Tuesday’s meeting would require new staff and additional funding to implement.
Funding Is the Central Obstacle
Legislative support is not guaranteed. State Rep. John Hughes (R-Sioux Falls) raised a direct concern at the meeting: the Legislature’s budget-setting committee may reject new spending even if the proposals are well-designed.
“My concern is that we put all these elaborate proposals together, then when we get to appropriations we’re going to hit the wall,” Hughes said.
South Dakota’s Legislature convenes in January. Any funding for Lamb’s plan would need to clear appropriations in the 2027 session.
What You Can Do Now
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Contact your South Dakota state legislator before the January 2027 session and ask them to fund the Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force recommendations. Find your legislator at sdlegislature.gov.
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Call the South Dakota Department of Corrections at (605) 367-5190 and ask what public comment or community partnership opportunities exist for the work release expansion. Community buy-in determines whether employers contract inmate labor.
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Contact the Appropriations Committee directly. The committee controls the budget that will fund or kill this plan. Members are listed at sdlegislature.gov/Committees. Ask them to fund recidivism-reduction programs in the FY2028 budget.
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Share the 50% figure with local employers in South Dakota. Lamb’s plan depends on businesses and nonprofits contracting work release participants. The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce can connect employers to the program at sdchamber.com.