Half of South Dakota’s Prison Population Returns to Prison
The state’s carceral system is failing prisoners at record rates, with the 2025 annual report from the South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) revealing a 50% recidivism rate, the highest in eight years. The South Dakota Searchlight reported that the crisis unequally targets Native Americans, who represent 39 percent of the total prisoner population despite their minority status. For Native women, the situation is catastrophic: they comprise 61 percent of the female prisoner population and face an astounding 66 percent recidivism rate.
Critics argue the state has failed to provide culturally relevant support or basic rehabilitation, instead relying on “overincarceration.” While a state task force did approve a list of “small wins or barriers that can be removed” on December 17, 2025, such as a recommendation to hire a tribal cultural liaison to improve programming, they chose not to address systemic neglect.
Instead, the task force endorsed a controversial Christian seminary program to “restore hope”: Prison Seminaries Foundation, a program first established by Mississippi DOC Commissioner Burl Cain when he worked at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola (Cain resigned from his role in Louisiana in 2015 amid allegations of misusing public funds). “I don’t necessarily support Burl Cain-style programming in South Dakota prisons because rehabilitation needs to be voluntary, secular and grounded in evidence,” said state Rep. Kadyn Wittman, Democrat of Sioux Falls, who despite her concerns, ultimately voted in favor of implementing Cain’s program.
Sources: Sioux Falls Argus Leader, South Dakota Searchlight
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