Senate Bill 143 was another attempt to end South Dakota’s exceptional and costly treatment of ingesting illegal drugs as a felony. Last month SB 143 survived Senate Judiciary but died on the Senate floor on an 8–25 vote.
As the Senate cogitated, Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead urged us to keep locking up our neighbors who dare deviate from the state-approved drugs of alcohol and tobacco and sample more exotic pharmaceuticals:
“You can’t even get into drug court if you are not facing penitentiary time and a felony, so it would eliminate any of those people from being available for drug court, because they wouldn’t meet the criteria and we’re recognizing that things like drug court are a very effective way to deal with individuals, even though they are charged with a felony, they have an opportunity to remove that and get back into society,” said Milstead.
…“Living in a healthy community, with low crime rates it does have a cost, and South Dakota sometimes is accused of over incarcerating individuals, then again we are one of the safest places in America to live and raise a family,” said Milstead [Kevin Gonzalez, “Lawmakers Consider Changing Penalty for Ingestion Charges,” KSFY-TV, 2021.02.23].
Samuel Lint, who is serving life at the South Dakota Penitentiary for a drug-related murder, caught Sheriff Milstead’s arguments against SB 143 and felt compelled to write the next day, before the Senate vote to kill SB 143. Lint can do without more company in the Pen. He says society would see less crime if we dished out less punishment. Lint recommends instead that we invest politically in rehabilitation to help the drug users out of their hurt and invest personally in children to keep them from entering that world of hurt:
Related Reading: Reread this 2019 Pen Pen from Lint’s fellow inmate Ryan Redler, who received a felony conviction for ingesting meth and found his life ruined by the state’s punishment. Redler has since completed his sentence and, according to the Department of Corrections, is “Outside.”
It’s a felony to ingest but a misdemeanor to kill someone with your car?
Mr. Super Sweet, I believe you are incompletely comparing the whinings of this incarcerated fellow and the situation retarding Mr. Ravnsborg, the Attorney General who we all wish was slapped into chains but has not been because he has not yet had his day in court and has not been charged with crimes that would put him in prison.
Do not lash at grudznick for being the bearer of these truths. grudznick despises Mr. Ravsnborg more than most can even begin to understand, however Mr. Ravnsborg’s misdemeanor charges are not for “killing someone.” I urge you to pay more attention to current events and write some nasty letters to Ms. Sovell’s office, as grudznick has done. She needs to be ridden out of town on a rail, as does that Huron county fellow who backed her up. They are small town hacks, clearly.
I remember a certain fat orange ass demanding one HRC be tossed into jail even though she has not been charged with even a misdemeanor. And no one I am aware of has tossed around any criminal conspiracies about Ravnsborg, like happened to and still is going on about HRC.
Sorry for the dash down the rabbit hole.
Those were great times in Iowa, Mr. mike.
grudznick, don’t forget that Vargo was part of the team that gifted our AG with misdemeanor charges.
Wow, that was an excellent letter that Mr. Lint sent, thoughtful and smart, and I hope a lot of people read it and absorb his message. If he reads this–and I assume he will–my absolute best to him. How you hang on to your humanity in a place like that can’t be easy, but he clearly has done so, and he has my respect and good wishes!
Great comment Super Sweet!!!!
Medical vs criminal
Addiction is not a criminal offense. I know babies who are born addicted to prescription drugs, illicit drugs, who cares what kind of drugs….addicted…born that way. Should these babies be jailed?
When someone is driving and on their phone and they kill someone….criminal…..deserves jail time. End of story.
Thank you Samuel Lint. God Bless!
Mr. Lint is a murderer who used drugs. Probably still uses drugs. Of course he thinks less punishment would be better.
Today, at the Conservatives with Common Sense breakfast gathering, the Opening Rant will dissect the insanest libbie spending bill yet.
End the war on drugs be legalizing or decriminalizing.
Grudz, you know damned well from past experience that you and your gravy speckled cohorts in the GOP will be the first ‘hogs to the trough’ to get at the federal money coming from Washington, all the time screaming that the dang Democrats are spending too much!
When looking at your party’s own record of “achievement” under the former ‘apprentice’ president, you must be SO proud of the billions in tax relief that went to the wealthiest of our nation with the promise of all the good jobs to come-which NEVER came, and the economy that tanked uner the GOP. Tou must be so proud.
Thank you for your letter, Mr. Lint.
Dear Mr. Grudznik, once the prison reopens to volunteers, why not consider volunteering at the penitentiary and meeting some of the people there? You could attend St. Dysmas Church on Thursday nights, or the Catholic Mass on Saturdays, or participant in many other church events; or you could join us at the Alternatives to Violence Project. You will meet a lot of people who have made some very serious mistakes and committed some very serious crimes; but you will also meet a lot of people (often the same) who are turning their lives around.
Ms. Fisher, perhaps I will call up those fellows at the work center here in Rapid City and see if any are in need of being read to or see if they’ve thought about sort of a Big Grandpa program, where I could take them out on Saturdays, if they are not at their rehabilitation jobs, and get an ice cream with them. Or we could have cold beverages at a family friendly venue, perhaps like a gold course. I could have a frosty and they could have a coke and we could debate politics.
Mr. Grudznik, I know that prison rules would not allow you to take them out and about. But you could probably arrange to go in and visit. They have pop machines for visitors. You might enjoy it more than you think you would. Try it.