March 21, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:  Michael Winder, DOC Communications and Information Manager and Bill Dean, VP of Operations- Sequel Youth and Family Services,  Phone: 515-240-6135 or bill.dean@sequelyouthservices.com

New Juvenile Corrections Program Will Operate From State’s West Farm Campus

PIERRE, S.D. - A new juvenile corrections program will open this summer on the state-owned campus known as the West Farm near Sioux Falls.

The South Dakota Department of Corrections (DOC) juvenile division has awarded a bid to Sequel Youth & Family Services (Sequel) to provide a 32-bed licensed group care program that will provide transitional services to DOC youth returning to the Sioux Falls area. Sequel was selected from competitive bids submitted during a Request for Proposals process.

Sequel will lease the West Farm property from the state and operate the Sequel Transition Academy program there, serving youth who are committed to the DOC and are currently placed out-of-state. The program will provide the youth with an in-state option near Sioux Falls where a majority of this population is in need of transitional services when returning to the community.

The targeted date for the first youth admission to the program is June 1, 2013.

“Sequel operates a variety of youth programs around the country and DOC has had long term contracts with their programs in Iowa,” said Doug Herrmann, Director of Juvenile Services for the South Dakota DOC. “We look forward to a successful partnership with Sequel in the Sioux Falls area.”

“Sequel programs have enjoyed a strong relationship with the state of South Dakota in previous years through serving their youth and their families,” said Bill Dean, Vice President of Operations for Sequel Youth and Family Services. “We are excited to now have a program in South Dakota, and the Sioux Falls area. This will be a great opportunity for youth in need of transition and permanency as they prepare themselves for the future.”

The West Farm property, located approximately 3 miles west of Ellis, SD, was originally a working farm that supplied food for the South Dakota State Penitentiary. The farming operation ceased in 1997 and the facility was converted into a juvenile facility in 1998. A group care center for boys’ ages 14-17 that had completed their correctional placement and were transitioning back into the community closed last summer.

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