Just like Governor Kristi Noem, the Jameson Annex Lifers Group at the South Dakota Penitentiary seeks transparency, constructive communication, and positive influence in the Legislature:…
Tag: prison
Rio Thompson was released from the South Dakota State Penitentiary in February. As he prepared for his winter release, he sent this letter to Dakota…
A couple millennia ago, an execution sparked a religious revolution. As our state continues the unfair, unjust, and wasteful practice of killing prisoners, let’s hear…
But wait! The ACLU and I were incorrectly cranky! While the Senate did table SCR 7, which would have authorized a summer study on alternatives…
Update 12:38 CST: Hold the phone… or change those calls to your legislators from cranky to grateful! Multiple Pierre denizens point out to me that…
On January 10, I published a letter from convicted murderer Shane Bell describing the beginning of a typical day in the Jameson Annex of South…
The 1994 Crime Bill banned Pell Grants to prisoners. In 2015, the Obama Administration created the Second Chance Pell Program, which allows a maximum of…
I received a letter “Mailed from a South Dakota Correctional Facility” a few days ago. Two small pieces of tape held the envelope shut; the…
Our new Attorney General may be a bigger idiot than Donald Trump, but at least we have the American Civil Liberties Union to talk sense…
Incoming Attorney General (that seems to exaggerate it; can’t we say “Corporal”? “Ensign”? “Petty Officer”?) Jason Ravnsborg says he’s going to end presumptive probation, which…