October 9, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Parole absconder numbers drop below 100 mark;
Arrest of 250th Parole Absconder in Partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service

PIERRE, S.D.- Secretary of Corrections Kellie Wasko announced that the number of parole absconders has dropped below 100 across the state of South Dakota. 

“The number of in-state parole absconders has decreased from a total of 486 when I started as Secretary to 97 as of October 1st,” said Wasko. “The effort to hold offenders in the community accountable for their actions is working. I’m extremely proud of the hard work that the parole division has done to achieve this goal and for all that they do to help ensure public safety.”

In 2023, the Department of Corrections (DOC) created an Absconder Apprehension Unit (AAU) to lower the number of offenders on parole or suspended sentence who avoid their supervising parole agent or violate the rules of supervision following their release from prison.

The AAU is made up of experienced parole agents with the primary responsibility of tracking and apprehending absconders within South Dakota. The AAU works directly with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, including various task forces, to locate and apprehend absconders and get them off the streets.

The U.S. Marshals Service and DOC entered into a partnership which allows the U.S. Marshals Service–Dakota Territory Fugitive Task Force to work directly with the DOC AAU to locate parole absconders, parole violators, and escapees wanted by DOC. Since its inception two years ago, the U.S. Marshals Service announces the arrests of over 250 parole absconders through this partnership. Many of those arrests have occurred in locations throughout the state of South Dakota; however, the Marshals Service has used its extensive network of offices and fugitive task forces to arrest parole absconders in various locations throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico.

“The U.S. Marshals Service is in a unique position to partner with the South Dakota DOC given its role as the nation’s premier fugitive apprehension agency and its charge to arrest wanted felony and violent offenders,” said Acting U.S. Marshal for the District of South Dakota Stephen Houghtaling. “Simply put, this initiative is about safety – the safety of the public and of our law enforcement partners who often experienced dangerous encounters with parole violators and absconders in the performance of their duties. The partnership with South Dakota DOC has undoubtedly made South Dakota a safer place to live and work. There is a debt of gratitude owed to the Deputy U.S. Marshals, AAU, and law enforcement partners who have taken on this dangerous work. We are just getting started.”

The DOC also hired an intelligence analyst to work inside the South Dakota Fusion Center directly with law enforcement agencies. The position gathers, analyzes, and disseminates intelligence on fugitives, parole absconders, and criminal behavior of those offenders under DOC custody, while also developing, cultivating, and growing effective, collaborative relationships between the DOC and federal, state, county, local and Tribal law enforcement.

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Definitions as defined in South Dakota Codified Law and SDDOC policy:

SDCL 24-15-1.1. Parole defined

Parole is the discretionary conditional release of an inmate from actual state correctional facility custody before the expiration of the inmate's term of imprisonment. The prisoner remains an inmate under the legal custody of the Department of Corrections until the expiration of the inmate's term of imprisonment.

SDDOC Policy definitions:

Parole Agent: A parole agent is an employee of the Department of Corrections responsible for the direct supervision of parolees.

Parolee: An offender who has been conditionally released by the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles to parole or suspended sentence from a South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) facility prior to the expiration of the offender’s sentence under the supervision of the DOC. Parolee includes an offender received from another state under interstate compact supervision.

Absconder: Any parolee under the supervision of the Parole Division (on parole and/or suspended sentence) whose whereabouts are unknown to the supervising parole agent and whose intent, it has been determined, is to avoid supervision by Parole or contact by the agent or law enforcement. This includes any offender who is deliberately making his/her whereabouts unknown to his/her agent.

Absconder Apprehension Unit (AAU):

A unit, consisting of designated parole agents, which specializes in the apprehension of

higher-risk parole absconders. The AAU works closely with local, state, and federal law enforcement entities including the South Dakota Fusion Center.