SIOUX FALLS, SD (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) – The state prison system collected at least $1.25 million in fees from inmates and their families for phone and messaging services in the three years leading up to this month’s sudden shutdown of tablet-based communications.
The South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) revenue is a mix of commission payments for phone calls and electronic messaging. The money is paid to the DOC from its communication contractor, ViaPath, which does business as Global Tel Link.
Inmates can call from wall phones and, until recently, from their tablets. Those fee-for-service mobile devices are provided by the contractor to all inmates at no cost to the state. The tablets offer calls, texts and photo messaging, music and games for fees, and have a free law library. Inmates cannot access regular websites or social media.
The DOC provided the commission payout information to South Dakota Searchlight in the run-up to a Wednesday evening disturbance at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. During the event, inmates in the East Hall cell block could be heard from the street chanting “we want phones.”
An initial call on the disturbance appeared on the Sioux Falls Police Department call log just after 4 p.m. Wednesday. DOC Secretary Kellie Wasko sent a written statement at 8:30 p.m. announcing that order had been restored at the penitentiary.
The statement referenced a “staff assault,” but did not mention the extent of any correctional officer injuries.
In an interview with The Dakota Scout’s Austin Goss on Thursday, Gov. Kristi Noem confirmed that the incident began when correctional officers took tablets from inmates.
“That’s what started the original conflict last night, and yes, we did have a correctional officer that was assaulted and went to the hospital,” Noem said.
In the same interview, Noem said the state needs to “see if it’s possible for prisoners to have these tablets and have them not be used for nefarious reasons.”
“We’re working with the technology and the vendor to make sure that to see if that’s even a possibility,” Noem told the Scout’s Austin Goss.
Attorney General Marty Jackley released a statement Thursday saying the state Division of Criminal Investigation will work with the DOC to “to investigate the disturbance at the State Penitentiary.”
“It is the Attorney General’s intent to prosecute those responsible for any harm done to correctional officers, other inmates, and state property to the fullest extent of the law,” Jackley wrote in a press release.
Communication restrictions began 20 days ago
The tablet-based messaging system, which moved to a new mobile platform late last year, was heavily used prior to the March 8 shutdown of tablet-based phone calls, texting and photo messaging.
A press release posted to the agency’s website two weeks after that date said that tablet communications had been suspended indefinitely pending the completion of an investigation. The release offered no details about the nature of the investigation, and the DOC has declined to offer further details on its nature.
Inmates were still able to place calls using wall phones, the DOC notice said.
The sudden change, as well as a lack of communication about it, has frustrated inmates and their family members across state prison facilities in Sioux Falls, Yankton, Pierre, Springfield and Rapid City. Inmates have complained of wait times for phones, and about the loss of the tablets’ 1-hour phone call limit – 40 more minutes than they’re allowed on wall phones.
“The tension is rising due to the lack of phones in here,” Inmate Wesley Jarabek told Searchlight last week.
Surge in text, photo messaging follows tablet update
Pre-paid phone calls currently return an 18.7% commission for the state.
Commission rates are far higher for tablet-based text messages and emails, netting the state 50% of the proceeds. Inmates pay 12 cents per photo or text to family and friends outside the walls. Family members and friends pay 25 cents per message.
The lion’s share of the $1.25 million the DOC collected between February 2021 and last month came from prepaid phone calls. But text and photo messaging payments skyrocketed after the tablet and messaging platform updates took effect last year.
November is the first month for which tablet-specific data are listed in the commission report, which was provided on Monday by DOC spokesman Michael Winder. In prior months, revenue from emails and photo messages sent over the previous platform were lumped in with monthly phone revenue reports, Winder said.
By November, all inmates and families were able to communicate using a mobile app called “Getting Out” that works much like regular smartphone-based messaging.
By January, 412,343 messages – more than 13,000 per day – were exchanged between inmates and those on the outside, according to the DOC’s commission data. That’s an average of about four messages per inmate per day. The DOC collected $37,758 in commission that month from tablets, according to the commission data.
That same month, the agency collected $26,662 in prepaid phone revenue.
The report includes monthly payouts from February 2021 through last month, which added up to a total of $964,755.28.
There was a period of time when monthly payments appeared to drop suddenly and significantly, from November 2021 through March 2023. Monthly payouts had totaled $30,000 or more in the months leading up to November 2021, but fell to around $11,000 or so each month until March 2023.
Winder, the DOC spokesman, said via email on Wednesday afternoon that the payouts didn’t actually drop. Instead, he said, the method of calculating payments changed in that time frame.
“ViaPath paid a lump sum payment of $288,057.20 for the difference in those months,” Winder said. “That payment is not included in the cost recovery reports we sent because those are monthly totals.”
Adding the lump sum payment to the monthly payments puts the total for known communication service commissions for the past three years at $1,252,812.
Winder did not immediately respond to a follow-up question on any other additional commission revenue that may have been collected since February 2021.
RAPID CITY, S.D. – The first medical marijuana testing facility in Western South Dakota is opening in Rapid City.
Triverty Analytical will conduct compliance testing for the state’s cannabis industry, to test the potency of medical marijuana and to scan for contaminants like pesticides or heavy metals.
Officials with the lab said they will work with the state to make sure the people who are consuming cannabis legally are safe.
Wendi Young, CEO of Triverty Analytical said, “When it comes down to it, when you’re talking about chemical testing – it’s all very similar. So, you know, the methodology is a little bit different, particularly when we’re talking about potency testing – so testing for THC – but everything else is very similar to how you would test any other agricultural product.”
Young added, along with testing for contaminants, that the lab will ensure THC levels advertised by distributors matches what is in the product.
She said Triverty Analytical is ready to start and expects half of the state’s testing – around 90 samples per month – to go through the new lab.
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Police in Rapid City have identified three individuals arrested following a high risk search executed on Wednesday at a home in the 2100 block of Central Blvd.
Police say the three were arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance, warrants, and distribution of marijuana.
Jebidiah Croyle, 39 from Rapid City, SD, was arrested for two active Pennington County warrants. Hillary Fontaine, 39, from Hot Springs, SD, was arrested for an active Pennington County warrant. And, Kevin Paugh, 44, from Rapid City, SD, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and receiving stolen property.
Police say it is important to emphasize that this is an ongoing investigation and further charges are imminent.
The Special Response Team was called in to execute the Wednesday search because it was believed that there were multiple firearms inside the residence.
The three were apprehended without incident.
DES MOINES, IA – Brenna Bird, the Attorney General of Iowa, announced that she has joined with 9 other states in a lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden latest attempt at student debt cancellation.
Bird was also a part of the 2022 lawsuit challenging the administration’s first attempt to eliminate student debt. That suit accused the Biden Administration of illegally cancelling $430 billion in student loans and placing the American taxpayer in a position of having to settle it. The United States Supreme Court agreed and ruled that the plan violated federal law.
This new lawsuit is challenging the Biden Administrations second attempt to push the student debt scheme onto the American public for more than $160 billion.
The lawsuit claims that Biden does not have the authority to change the debt repayment plans and put taxpayers on the hook for the $160 billion that they didn’t borrow.
Bird says the plan is, “nothing more than a desperate attempt to buy votes in the November election.”
Kansas is taking the lead in the lawsuit, and along with Iowa the other states involved are Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
Nebraska News Connection (Deborah Van Fleet) – The Nebraska Winnebago Tribe’s Ho-Chunk Community Development Corporation has been awarded $2 million through MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving company.
Some 6,300 nonprofits applied to Yield Giving’s open call for grants the Ho-Chunk were among 279 to receive a top tier rating. In the next-highest tier, 82 organizations each received $1 million.
Kristine Earth, executive director of the corporation, said the Tribe has a lot to be proud of but a lot of work left to do.
“We’re so excited and are so thankful for this generous gift for our community,” Earth stated. “We do have a lot of issues; we have a lot of health disparities. And so, a donation like this really is going to make an impact for our entire Tribe as a whole.”
The corporation marks its 20th anniversary this year, working to improve economic, educational and social opportunities for tribal members. Earth pointed out they have five key initiatives: housing development, commercial development, financial services, quality of life and food sovereignty.
The Winnebago Tribe has experienced huge growth in its middle class in the past few decades but roughly 30% of its members still live in poverty. Earth noted through its farmer’s market, the corporation is tackling both health disparities and food sovereignty.
“Through our farmers market, now we’re able to touch on not only agriculture and tribal farming, but also our health care system,” Earth outlined. “Offering the fresh fruits and vegetables and the Indian corn; things that will restore the health of our people.”
Earth added Winnebago is in a “food desert,” making food security a major focus for the Tribe.
“It’s hard for people to access fresh fruits and vegetables, and we have such a growing community,” Earth stressed. “We are all coming together to grow our own food and to feed ourselves, so we can be sustainable in the future.”
On the website, MacKenzie Scott called all the open call grant winners “vital agents of change.” Scott’s Yield Giving organization has donated more than $17 billion to 2,300 nonprofit organizations since 2019.
Iowa News Service (Mark Moran) – A new report by national researchers says Iowa is making progress in reforming its juvenile justice system, and finding ways to steer kids away from crime – long term.
The state convened a task force last year to study youth crime diversion programs.
Senior Research Fellow for Youth Justice with The Sentencing Project, Dick Mendel, said Iowa is one of the states making progress on addressing juvenile justice issues, by focusing on ways to keep kids from being incarcerated – and maybe discouraging them from committing crimes in the first place.
“Diversion tends to be cheaper,” said Mendel. “It’s not a net cost, it’s a net savings, even in the short term. And it’s especially a net savings financially in the long term, because these young people are much less likely to come back.”
Iowa has also implemented restorative justice programs, which engage young people in repairing the harm caused by their behavior. That can often mean face-to-face meetings with their victims.
The Sentencing Project report also shows that Black youth in Iowa tend to be arrested for disorderly conduct more than white youth by a factor of 8 to 1, despite comprising a much smaller percentage of the state’s population.
Mendel said while Iowa and other U.S. states are starting to bolster diversion programs, the idea of finding ways to rehabilitate young people and keep them from offending again is not new.
“When you look at other nations, 75 to 80% of the young people who are identified as possibly being fit for prosecution, are diverted,” said Mendel. “Other countries have seen this research, and they’ve responded.”
Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Kansas and Utah now track results of their diversion programs, which Mendel sais helps those states to make them more effective.
