History

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Timeline of Major Events

1800s

Date	Event
1861	Dakota Territory is established.
February 8, 1881	Territorial Legislative Assembly appropriates money for territorial penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
1881-1882	The SDSP central administration building and two cell block wings on either side are constructed.
December 13, 1882	First inmates arrive from Michigan.
1883-1884	Territorial Legislature approves funding to construct several buildings, including the warden's residence.
1886	Territorial Legislature establishes reform school for juveniles in Plankinton.
1887	First building erected on Plankinton campus.
1888	First youth arrives at Plankinton campus.
1888	Territorial Legislature passes law allowing for parole of prisoners.
1889	SD becomes a state institution; becomes the South Dakota State Penitentiary (SDSP).
1890	Board of Charities and Corrections established.
1897-1898	A stone wall is constructed around the prison at a cost of $12,645.

1900s

Date	Event
1903-1904	West Hall of Penitentiary is extended; 88 additional cells installed.
1907	State Legislature changed name of Dakota Reform School to South Dakota State Training School.
August 17, 1922	Inmates took Warden George T. Jameson hostage during an escape. One of the inmates was killed during the manhunt. The others were captured, returned to prison and sentenced to life in prison.
1925-1926	East Hall constructed at Penitentiary.
March 6, 1936	Prison break at Penitentiary leaves 3 people, including Warden Eugene Reiley, dead.
October 11, 1954	Prison riot at Penitentiary.
1955	Penitentiary Recreation yard is completed. Fifth floor of main building completed. Warehouses remodeled for use by PI. Chapel and auditorium remodeled.
1957	The shirt factory building at the Penitentiary was rebuilt as a school.
1959-1960	Coolidge High School building completed.
1961-1962	Five hundred acres three miles west of Ellis, SD are purchased for prison farm. Program became known as West Farm.
1963	Dormitory built at West Farm.
1970	Legislature appropriates funds to build housing unit for women prisoners at the State Hospital at Yankton.
1984	Legislature approves closing down USD/Springfield and turning facility into a state prison.
December 1984	Female inmates move to Springfield.
January 1985	Male inmates arrive in Springfield.
November 1988	Voters approve Constitutional Amendment D, which puts charitable and penal institutions under legislative rules and restrictions, rather than under control of Board of Charities and Corrections.
March 1989	Governor George S. Mickelson signs SB 131, which abolishes the Board of Charities and Corrections and establishes a Department of Corrections.
July 1989	Department of Corrections becomes a State Agency. Lynne DeLano is appointed as the first Secretary of the Department of Corrections.
February 1993	The G. Norton Jameson Annex opened in Sioux Falls as a secure unit adjacent to the main building of the South Dakota State Penitentiary.
November 6, 1996	Patrick Henry Brady Boot Camp opens on the grounds of the Custer Youth Corrections Center.
October 1997	Juvenile Prison opens on grounds of State Training School in Plankinton. Solem Public Safety Center opens. The facility is home to the South Dakota Women's Prison and the DOC Administration offices.

2000-Present

Date	Event
December 2001	State Training School closes.
2003	Legislature approves plan to add prison beds at SDSP, MDSP and a trusty unit in the Black Hills.
September 24, 2003	Custer Youth Corrections Center renamed State Treatment and Rehabilitation (STAR) Academy, Brady Boot Camp renamed Brady Academy, Living Center A renamed Youth Challenge Center.
2004	Temporary minimum-security unit opens in Rapid City.
2005	Barracks unit opens at Mike Durfee State Prison.
2006	Unit D of the Jameson Annex to the South Dakota State Penitentiary opens.
2008	Redfield Minimum Unit closed.
2012	Permanent Rapid City Minimum Unit and new Parole Services office open as the Black Hills Correctional Transition Center. The building is dedicated on May 2, 2012.
February 6, 2013	Governor Dennis Daugaard signs the Public Safety Improvement Act into law.
2013	E.X.C.E.L. program for girls in Custer State Park closes.
March 12, 2015	Governor Dennis Daugaard signs the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Initiative into law.
August 1, 2015	Minimum security units for adult male offenders renamed as Community Work Centers.
2015	QUEST program for girls moved from Custer State Park location to main STAR Academy campus south of Custer.
April 2016	STAR Academy programs for juveniles close.
2017	Legislature authorizes sale of state property in Aurora County, Custer County and Rapid City, which included juvenile facilities and community corrections office space.
2019	Legislature approves appropriation to renovate and expand health services at the Jameson Annex.
2022	Legislature approves creation of incarceration construction fund for the capital construction of facilities such as prisons and jails.
2022	Legislature authorizes SDDOC to purchase land and to contract for the design of a female correctional facility in Rapid City.
2023	Legislature authorizes transfer of $132 million from the general fund and $94 million from the budget reserve fund to the incarceration construction fund for the future construction of a new men's prison.
October 16, 2023	Groundbreaking ceremony held for new women's correctional facility in Rapid City.
2024	DOC launches SAFER SD Reentry Initiative.

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