Custer commission agrees with jail partnership

A $6 million partnership is not usually a cinch, but in this case, the Custer County (CC) Commission sees financially supporting the Pennington County (PC) jail expansion project as mutually beneficial.

At the April 23 commission meeting, PC sheriff Brian Mueller, along with PC commissioner Jerry Derr and PC buildings and grounds director Davis Purcell, provided the commission with more information about the jail expansion project. 

To help fund the project, CC was asked to pay $6 million over 30 years for jail services, which comes to $200,000 a year. This is contingent on the PC Commission passing the project.

Mueller said he felt very fortunate to have a great partnership with the Custer County Sheriff’s Office when it comes to sharing law enforcement resources and the long-standing jail contract. 

Custer County sheriff Marty Mechaley agreed, saying, “I think Pennington County runs the best jail definitely in the state of South Dakota, if not in the whole region. They do a very good job and make you feel very comfortable as sheriff that when I take an inmate there, they’re going to be taken care of.” 

It also has medical services, and the staff will reach out if an inmate is having issues, explain what the issues are and schedule medical care, which Mechaley said cuts down expenses.

As to the potential agreement, Mechaley said he saw it as a good cost-saving measure for CC. When he penciled out the cost of nine correction officers to run a jail—without a building, medical staff, laundry, food service or anything else—Mechaley said it would cost $650,000 a year just for staff. 

“There’s also a lot less liability that comes back to us because of the way they run their jail. They have their accreditations. They have their staff. They have very good hiring standards,” said Mechaley. 

In talking with other sheriffs, Mechaley said they agreed it is better to have a jail contract than to build a jail. 

“I have no doubt that this would work very well, especially for the long-term use of Custer County,” said Mechaley. “I’m very supportive of it.” 

In the last 15 years, PC’s population has grown by an average of 1,000 per year, which impacts jail needs. 

“A lot of time, the community looks at the sheriff as if we have control over how many people we have in the jail, but there’s a lot of factors that go into who’s in jail, why they’re in jail, how long they stay in jail and actually very few of those factors the sheriff has any control over,” said Mueller. 

Some factors impacting county jail populations are law enforcement calls for service and proactivity, state’s attorney’s office philosophy and case load, public defender and private defense attorney philosophy and case load, case processing, bond structure, judicial decisions, legislature, diversion, community input, budgets, bed space and population. 

The PC jail has been at or above capacity since 2014. By this, Mueller said they try to operate the jail at 85 to 87 percent capacity. 

“If you get over that number, you start to have a lot of different issues with classification of inmates being housed in cell blocks where they should not be with the other folks,” said Mueller. “We’ve been, for a number of years, running at or above that level, which causes some pretty big issues for us operationally.”

Mueller said the only relief he has as sheriff is to reduce U.S. Marshal contract housing to keep staff and inmates safe. These pay $112 a day. Thus, reducing contract numbers by 25 costs PC about $1 million due to housing capacity. 

“As we continue to add capacity back to the jail, my hope is to be able to bring a few more Marshal inmates back as we go to help offset the operational costs,” said Mueller. 

Additionally, as cases become more complex, Mueller said the length of time between the initial arrest and disposition of the case is getting longer, which impacts the length of stay and the jail population. 

In Custer County, the 10-year average length of stay is 24.52 days, which is consistent with Pennington County. The 10-year average number of CC inmates in the PC jail is 7.18. Thus, the $6 million proposal is for 15 beds for 30 years. This is not a cap, but rather a number to reference based on the averages and predicted growth. 

Mueller did work with his predecessor to find an alternative site to build a one-level jail. This would save costs in construction but increase operational costs. The city said there were three locations it would approve for a jail, but none of these worked out for a variety of reasons. Thus, the current location was the only space zoned appropriately for the project. 

As for the timeline, Purcell said the project schematic design phase took place between December 2023 and March 2024, and the design development phase took place between March 2024 and October 2024. As of November 2024, the project entered the construction document phase until June 2025, with requests for funding taking place in April. There will be community input meetings in May or June in Rapid City before going for PC Commission approval in June or July. Finally, the potential bidding and construction period is slotted to begin in the summer or fall. 

Since Option A was eliminated, Option B includes a new 148-bed housing floor; a new mechanical, electrical and security floor; a new second 148-bed housing floor; a new completed vehicle sally port; a first floor main jail remodeling including infrastructure, lower level main jail remodeling for the booking/intake center and healthcare as well as an existing jail and jail annex security electronic update with a COPS Grant to hopefully help cover the costs. 

According to Purcell, both the original jail and the jail annex need critical infrastructure upgrades. The problem is, it is nearly impossible to perform the work while inmates are occupying the buildings. The solution would be to temporarily house inmates in the new jail during the renovations. 

The total base cost is $125-140 million. The PC cost per bed is $326,831 for 296. As for recurring annual operation costs, staffing comes to $5.1 million and food, medical and supplies come to $800,000. 

Option C covers all of Option B and includes shelled space for two additional housing floors with a total base cost of $135-145 million. Shelling in the upper two floors would cost about $12 million for future housing. 

Per Purcell’s definition, “Shelling refers to constructing the exterior structure of a space without completing the interior finish, allowing future build-out as needs arise.” 

By shelling in floors, future inflation could be avoided in construction and core system costs. It also reduces the risks, challenges and safety hazards of future expansions. According to Purcell, the shelled space could be finished quickly when beds or services are needed without work in inmate-occupied zones. 

The cost per bed and reccurring operational costs are the same as Option B. 

Option C1 covers previous options along with finishing a third level of housing for $19,763,860, making the total base cost $150-$160 million. The PC cost per bed is $288,511 for 444. As for recurring annual operation costs, staffing comes to $6.9 million and food, medical and supplies come to $1.2 million a year. 

Option C2 covers previous options and a fourth level of completed housing for $18,844,340, making the total base cost $170 million or more. The PC cost per bed is $248,215 for 592. As for recurring annual operation costs, staffing comes to $8.6 million and food, medical and supplies come to $1.6 million a year. 

“We do drive the price per bed down, the more beds that we can add,” said Purcell. 

As potential partners, Purcell said Pennington County is asking for $30 million from the City of Rapid City, $12 million from Fall River County for 35 beds and $6 million from CC for 15 beds over 30 years. There are also plans for technology and partnerships to save transportation costs. 

“If we’re not able to make this palatable to the voters and the PC Commission and get this project done, we’re going to continue to run a full jail. My only internal option is to continue to take out U.S. Marshal inmates at a pretty substantial cost to PC taxpayers or to get together with the community and decide what type of people are we housing in our community that we’re comfortable being out. Right now, what I’d tell you is, the people that are in that jail need to be in that jail,” said Mueller. 

If the CC Commission would like to make a long-term agreement to pay $200,000 a year for 30 years to fund the project, Mueller said they could work together to structure such an agreement. A commission member would also be invited to sit on a jail advisory board. 

Derr said the vast majority of the PC budget is for public safety. He recognized that $200,000 a year was a big ask but said they needed to do something and appreciated any support or partnerships. 

“We’re trying to do what we can with the dollars we have, and we do understand that for the community and for you guys, this is a huge ask. We’re just looking for a little partnership to help out the regional scale that we have to do what we have to do and what our responsibilities are,” said Derr. 

“I don’t know how we almost can’t work out a partnership,” said Custer County commissioner Mike Busskohl.

Fellow commissioner Craig Hindle agreed, saying, “I think it’s a great opportunity, and I think we need to step up.” 

Busskohl suggested beginning the paperwork process, and Mueller said if the commission decided to have any public meetings about the project he was willing to come down and answer any questions. 

Nothing will be signed until the PC Commission potentially approves the project, but Mueller asked for a commitment from the CC Commission by the end of May or the first meeting in June. Purcell said he is working on drafting some agreements, and they would need to be executed by August when the PC Commission is asked to bond. 

Hindle said he was on board and said the commission should start getting it on the agenda to get public comment. 

CC Commission chairman Jim Lintz said there was no doubt that the commission would support the project. 

“It looks like a win-win to me. We can’t build a jail for anywhere near that. You guys are putting up the expenses upfront, so I don’t see how it’s anything but good,” said CC commissioner Mike Linde.

Busskohl said he saw nothing but positives. 

The next meeting of the Custer County Commission is May 7 at 8 a.m. at the courthouse.