• Argus Leader. July 23, 2012
• S.D. prison rates create a cost too steep
• Crime in South Dakota happens at about the same rate as those of our neighboring states. The difference is, we lock up more of those found guilty -- a lot more.
• Those statistics are drawing scrutiny from the state's top office.
• South Dakota has 415 prison inmates for every 100,000 residents, a ratio that is basically double the rate in North Dakota and Minnesota. It's no surprise that incarceration costs money, and Gov. Dennis Daugaard is concerned about that increasingly expensive portion of the state budget.
• Correctional costs have topped $100 million a year in the state and, at the present incarceration rate, would grow by $224 million in the next decade. That includes $126 million for two new prisons and $98 million in added operating expenses over 10 years, state numbers show.
• Daugaard announced recently that he has appointed an 18-member panel to look at the high rate in prison sentences and the increasing cost to house prisoners. That's a good step.
• Entering the study, we already know that the state's prison population is increasingly made up of non-violent offenders, including drunk drivers, who are a significant problem in South Dakota.
• Daugaard's panel, called the Criminal Justice Initiative work group, will look at

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