South Dakota Department of Corrections


The South Dakota Department of Corrections is the agency that operates state prisons in the US state of South Dakota. It has its headquarters in Pierre.

Adult prisons

The South Dakota corrections system includes the Juvenile Corrections System, its network of juvenile facilities.
The State Treatment and Rehabilitation Academy is located in unincorporated Custer County, south of Custer on U.S. Highway 385. STAR Evergreen High School serves as the middle and high school for delinquent youth. The STAR campus includes several units. The STAR Admissions Unit processes new arrivals. The Youth Challenge Center and the Patrick H. Brady Academy serve young men. The QUEST and Excel programs serve young women.
The West Farm in unincorporated Minnehaha County, near Sioux Falls, serves as the juvenile transitional care facility for boys who are about to go back into their communities.
STAR Academy and Patrick H Brady Academy closed in April 2016. All juveniles are housed in private placements supervised by Juvenile Community Corrections staff.

Prison gang activity

Over the ten years leading to 2010, prison staff identified approximately 150 different gangs in South Dakota's state prisons. Of those, eight are currently active at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Most have racial allegiances, like the Gangster Disciples, an African American street gang; and the Sureños, a Hispanic street gang. Warden Doug Weber told KSFY-TV that two gangs actually formed at the South Dakota State Penitentiary: the Family Brotherhood is an Aryan gang and the Red Brotherhood is a Native American gang.