PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - South Dakota and Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribal officials finalized an agreement on a pilot program for tribal members to serve parole at home on the reservation.
Sisseton-Wahpeton Chairman Robert Shepherd and Department of Corrections Secretary Denny Kaemingk signed the intergovernmental agreement. Tribal officials have already begun to put the plan into effect.
Joan White will be the project manager for the tribe, overseeing a transition and monitoring office for parolees and sex offenders. White was a federal probation officer for 20 years before returning to the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate reservation in the northeast corner of South Dakota.
“We’re really excited about being able to do this project,” White said. “We always hear complaints about parole from some of our community members.”
“This is a chance for us to take over that,” she added.
The project is part of the state’s 2013 Public Safety Improvement Act. The recidivism rate is 71 percent higher among Native Americans than whites in South Dakota, officials said, because some Native American parolees abscond from supervision and return to the reservation.
“We had a number of tribal members that were coming out of the prisons and it was difficult to put together parole plans, because it was difficult to supervise them,” Secretary Kaemingk said.
State officials don’t have jurisdiction over tribal land. Some parolees have been placed off the reservation for work, making for a difficult transition. Others returned to their reservations which lacked support services.
The tribe will hire a parole agent to be funded and trained by the state Department of Corrections. Other parole officers will be trained on how the tribe works as well.
White said it will be helpful for tribal members to get support services from providers that understand their cultural beliefs.
The tribe will also set up a wellness team. The team will have to accept offenders before they can serve their parole on the reservation. It will help parolees access mental health, substance abuse and housing services, among other resources.
“If you are providing those services at the beginning, I think they’re more likely to be successful in our community,” White said.
State and tribal officials agree that the program could be good for the community as a whole.
“Our Indian families are so closely tight knit,” White said.
If someone is sent away to prison, she said. “It’s really hard on a family that’s left behind.”
Kaemingk said he expects outcomes to improve with the new program. If it works well, he thinks legislators will authorize more funds to expand the initiative. The Standing Rock Tribe has expressed interest in establishing a similar program.
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