The South Dakota State Penitentiary staff’s letter to Gov. Kristi Noem urging for Department of Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko’s removal, sent on Jan. 4, has yet to receive any formal response by the governor’s office.
The letter, obtained by the Argus Leader in a public records request, addressed certain collective concerns staff shared regarding numerous policy changes in the prison and their serious consequences since Wasko was named to the position.
After the letter was sent, numerous efforts were made to reach out to Ian Fury, the Governor’s Chief of Communications, DOC spokesman Michael Winder and Wasko herself for a response. But attempts were met with silence.
The South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigations reported that no investigations in relation to the letter have been conducted as of Friday. Tony Mangan, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, which oversees DCI, said the department had not heard of or received a copy of the letter calling for Wasko’s removal. Thus, DCI was not officially privy to the situation.