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South Dakota has an incarceration rate of 824 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in South Dakota and why.

6,500 people from South Dakota are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in South Dakota is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 25,000 different people are booked into local jails in South Dakota.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these South Dakota graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, South Dakota’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites, Hispanics, Blacks, and American Indians/Native Americans in South Dakota prisons and jails.

South Dakota's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in South Dakota

Prisons and jails in South Dakota are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in South Dakota charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 90¢ for a 15-minute call.
• South Dakota suspended its $2 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic for flu related medical visits — but should eliminate them completely.
• South Dakota prisons charge families up to a 16% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• People in South Dakota prisons must pay for hygiene items and other basics if they have more than $1.00 in their account. They must pay the state back for any items they receive.
• People in South Dakota prisons earn as little as 25¢ an hour for their work.
• The hidden costs in South Dakota’s “no-cost” prison tablet contract
• South Dakota charges up to 25¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Our other articles about South Dakota

• South Dakota's choice to criminalize "failure to appear" may be hurting public safety
• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 11% of people in South Dakota prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• South Dakota makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Bail companies in South Dakota have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• South Dakota prisons release about 4,576 people every year
• How the end of Roe v. Wade will impact the 552 women on probation and parole in South Dakota
• 28% of corrections officers in South Dakota quit their job in FY2020.
• South Dakota hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - South Dakota gets a D
• Who's helping the 14,458 women released from South Dakota correctional facilities each year?
• Local governments still struggling with Census' prison counts

Other resources

• Research on South Dakota in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in South Dakota jails and prisons

We gave South Dakota a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• South Dakota is one of 13 states that did not implement any policies to accelerate releases, promote medical parole or compassionate release, prevent incarceration for technical violations of probation and parole, or hasten releases for people incarcerated on minor offenses.
• South Dakota was one of 15 prison systems that did not have a policy making hand sanitizer widely available or providing free hygiene products — like soap — to incarcerated people.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency.