Pierre, S.D. - The Department of Corrections has begun utilizing additional resources to house state prisoners with inmate populations at an all-time high.

Forty-three inmates from the South Dakota Women's Prison have been moved to temporary housing in the former Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Law Enforcement Training Center dormitory in Pierre. All of the inmates are minimum-security status.

"We were running out of space for female inmates and needed to provide some relief for the Women's Prison," said Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch. "The use of these dorms will provide needed space at a low cost to the taxpayers."

As of March 8^th, South Dakota had 389 female inmates in custody. The female inmate population in South Dakota is currently growing at a rate of three times that of the male inmate population, and the number of female inmates in the state has more than doubled since the Women's Prison opened in Pierre in October 1997.

"We continue to experience a dramatic increase in the number of female inmates coming into the system with a dependency on drugs and alcohol," said Reisch. "Twenty-percent of the women entering prison in Fiscal Year 2002 were found to have a primary substance dependence on amphetamine. For Fiscal Year 2006, that number has risen to 40-percent."

In addition to the female inmates housed at the Women’s Prison in Pierre, female inmates on work release status are also housed at the Minnehaha County Corrections Center and The Glory House in Sioux Falls and at Community Alternatives of the Black Hills in Rapid City.

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