The South Dakota Department of Corrections announced that the state’s largest prison has been placed on lockdown.
The South Dakota State Penitentiary and the Jameson Annex, an adjacent maximum security prison, were placed on lockdown late Sunday evening.
“We do not currently know how long the curfew will last,” the DOC statement said. “We will manage offender phone service during the curfew period. This may mean that phone service will be temporarily disabled at times. All visits, except for previously approved and scheduled special visits, are cancelled during this time. Visits by attorneys will not be affected.”
Neither the curfew notices nor the changes to visiting hours provided a clear reason for the decisions.
However, the Department of Corrections’ lockdown notice said the matter relates to “the security and operations of the facility.” The Department of Justice also noted that it will not respond to any further questions or inquiries about the lockdown at this time.
The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office Criminal Investigation Division has been informed of the curfew but has not requested to intervene at this time, spokesman Tony Mangan told the Argus Leader on Monday.
This comes after the department on Friday indefinitely suspended general visitation services for inmates on the D Floor of the Jameson Annex.
