A partial view of a state women’s prison under construction in Rapid City on Sept. 23, 2025. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight)
South Dakota incarcerates women at a higher rate than other U.S. states — and countries — according to a new report from the Prison Policy Initiative.
The incarceration-reform nonprofit released the report Tuesday, the same day South Dakota lawmakers approved the construction of a men’s prison in northeast Sioux Falls.
This graph shows the number of women in state prisons, local jails, and federal prisons from each U.S. state per 100,000 women in that state and the incarceration rate of women per 100,000 in countries with at least 500,000 in total population. (Courtesy of Prison Policy Initiative)
According to the study’s authors, South Dakota women are imprisoned at a rate of 338 per 100,000. That’s a higher rate than Montana or Idaho, in the second and third spots in the ranking of female incarceration rates. All three states have higher rates than El Salvador, the country with the highest incarceration rate.
The nationwide incarceration rate for women in the U.S. is 112 per 100,000.
The report is titled “States of Women’s Incarceration: The Global Context 2025.” The Prison Policy Initiative built its rankings by looking at women incarcerated in prisons, jails and tribal jails.
The press release on the report notes that well over half the women imprisoned in South Dakota are held on drug charges or crimes. It also notes that the state voted in 2022 to build a new women’s prison in Rapid City to manage the overcrowded South Dakota Women’s Prison in Pierre. The new women’s prison is under construction at a cost of $87 million.
Female incarceration rates have declined in most states, the report says, but South Dakota’s rate has increased. According to a state data brief cited in the nonprofit’s report, the number of women incarcerated for violent crimes in the state increased 33% between 2013 and 2023. The number of female drug offenders grew by 66% in the same time period.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden pledged last week to create a rehabilitation and recidivism task force to study high rates of incarceration and repeat offenses.
The South Dakota Department of Corrections did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.
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