Noem wants widespread changes at prisons after complaints
STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Friday that she is looking to make widespread changes in the state s prison system after meeting with tired and discouraged employees working short-handed at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls.
The Republican governor fired the prison s warden and deputy warden last week following an investigation into an anonymous complaint from a prison employee. It alleged low employee morale amid lagging pay raises and cuts to employee benefits. It also accused the prison leadership of allowing dangerous working conditions, with some employees receiving tactical equipment that was not “up to standards” as well as facing regular sexual harassment from supervisors.
Prison Officials Placed On Administrative Leave Following Investigation by
South Dakota Department of CorrectionsNews
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Secretary of Corrections Mike Leidholt and State Penitentiary Warden Darin Young are on leave following a human resources investigation into an anonymous complaint. Governor Kristi Noem made the move on Tuesday.
“My top priority as governor is keeping South Dakotans safe, and that includes the men and women who work at the State Penitentiary and those who are confined there,” said Governor Noem in a release.
The complaint alleges sexual harassment goes unaddressed in the prison system.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) â A former South Dakota prison official who was recently fired by Gov. Kristi Noem said Tuesday that she wasn t told why she was dismissed.
Jennifer Dreiske, the former deputy warden at the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, had worked at the Department of Corrections for 19 years until Noem announced Thursday that she was being fired along with the prison s warden, Darin Young. The Department of Human Services had been investigating an anonymous complaint that alleged that supervising corrections officers regularly sexually harassed their colleagues, that employee morale was low and that promotions were plagued by nepotism.
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Gov. Kristi Noem fires South Dakota prison wardens as scrutiny of corrections staff grows
The South Dakota Bureau of Human Resources continues to lead an investigation into low morale among corrections employees following an anonymous complaint about low pay, shoddy equipment and sexual harassment. Written By: Christopher Vondracek | ×
The South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is pictured here in a Google Maps screenshot from September 2019. (Submitted / Google)
PIERRE, S.D. Two top wardens overseeing the Sioux Falls prison have been fired, and the director of an inmate-employing manufacturing service is on leave, according to a statement from the office of Gov. Kristi Noem on Thursday, July 15.