The South Dakota Department of Corrections’ parole division notched a series of wins in 2025, its leaders said this week, even as public scrutiny of people on parole reached a crescendo late last month loud enough to spark immediate changes from Gov. Larry Rhoden.
Two top parole administrators delivered the message to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles on Wednesday. It was the board’s first full-group meeting since Rhoden announced plans to hire five new parole officers to do intensive supervision on high-risk inmates, requested faster decisions on parole violations and said the state would crack down on drug use and other misbehavior by people under state supervision.
The changes came a few days after a police officer in Sioux Falls was shot and injured, allegedly by a man on parole. The April 27 incident was the second time an officer was shot in Sioux Falls in the space of a year. The alleged shooter in a separate incident from April 2025 was on parole…