The change in leadership at the Department of Corrections has produced one small, sensible course correction: a pause in the frivolous rebranding of our Pheasantland Industries prisoner work program:
Plans to change the name and make other revisions to work programs in South Dakota’s state prisons are no longer going forward, at least for now.
Switching the name from Pheasantland Industries to Dakota Core was supposed to happen on November 1.
But that was before Kellie Wasko told Gov. Larry Rhoden on September 1 that she would be resigning as state secretary of corrections in mid-October.
…DOC spokesman Michael Winder confirmed on Thursday that, at this point, the work program changes won’t proceed.
“With incoming Secretary [Nick] Lamb starting work next month, we want him to have the opportunity to review agency operations before further decisions are made,” Winder told [Bob Mercer, “‘Rebranding’ of Prison Work Programs on Hold,” KELO-TV, 2025.10.30].
Recently hired Pheasantland Industries associate director René Stolsmark told the state Corrections Committee last month that the current name confuses people and makes them think it has something to do with hunting. But “Dakota Core” has as much potential to confuse people by making them think it has something to do with the Dakota Corps Scholarships we give college students to get them to stay in South Dakota.
I get the sense that marketing is the least of the problems South Dakota’s prison system faces. Changing the name of the prison work program won’t sell more license plates, signs, furniture, custom printing, or garments, and a new name won’t move more prisoners down the road to rehabilitation. Let’s hope DOC’s pause on the rebrand is a sign of a focus on substance over image.
Hey, what’s not to like about six (seven? eight?) month winters, rampant racism, chilling effects on civil rights, an extremist legislature, living in a chemical toilet, sacrifice zone, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area?
Peasantland would do. Accuracy is important.