Bill to de-felonize addiction introduced
By Ernestine Chasing Hawk Native Sun News Today Editor
nativesunnews.today PIERRE – You could call it a self-inflicted problem in South Dakota, overcrowding of state and county correction facilities which gives South Dakota the 10th highest incarceration rate in the world. A report released in 2016 by The Criminal Justice Initiative Work Group made a direct correlation between the increase in the prison population in South Dakota and South Dakota’s policy of felonizing ingestion of a controlled substance. South Dakota is the only state in the union that brands drug addicted individuals with a felony conviction through ingestion. And one of only four states to have the ingestion law on their books, but in the other three states, Utah, Connecticut and California, ingestion is classified as a misdemeanor. Laurie Feiler, deputy secretary with the state's Department of Corrections, said the increase in the number of inmates due to the felony ingestion law is creating housing pressure in South Dakota's low-medium and medium-security jails and prisons. In particular, a growing number of female offenders sentenced on meth charges is straining the system. "It's certainly a big impact. Over 60 percent of our female population is doing time for drug offenses. Over 300 of our offenders are doing time for possession or ingestion," Feiler said. A measure that could help ease the problem and save tax payers an estimated $50 Million over the next ten years was introduced during the 2019 legislative session. Resolution SCR7 directs the Executive Board to create a fifteen-member task force to study and make legislative proposals regarding alternatives to imprisonment for those convicted of the crime of ingestion of controlled substances.
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