By Jake Shama
The Daily Republic
SPRINGFIELD, S.D. —In a five-month span, three inmates of the Mike Durfee State prison were charged with felonies, including one instance in which an inmate had sex with an employee of a food service provider who was working in the prison.
Despite the alleged crimes, Denny Kaemingk, cabinet secretary for the South Dakota Department of Corrections, expressed optimism regarding the amount of crime in South Dakota prisons and how DOC staff deals with it.
“Our staff does a wonderful job of working with inmates dealing with minor and major rule infractions, and I think the level of felony crimes that we have on-site are low,” Kaemingk said.
On May 23, inmate Bradley Light Foot, 26, allegedly possessed K2, a synthetic cannabinoid also known as “spice” that can be sprayed on dried, shredded plant material or vaporized for inhalation, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse website.
On July 18, inmate Antonio Dreamer, 29, was allegedly found with a residual amount of marijuana.
And between the months of September and October, Rosella Karr, 52, an employee of an outside vendor working in the prison, allegedly had sexual intercourse with an inmate incarcerated in the prison.
Each individual was indicted last week by a Bon Homme County grand jury because the Mike Durfee State Prison is located in Springfield. According to Sara Rabern, spokeswoman for the South Dakota Attorney General’s office, Karr was working for CBM Managed Services, the food service provider for the prison.
Light Foot was charged with inmate possession of drugs in a penitentiary, a class 4 felony punishable upon conviction by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine; and possession of a controlled substance in schedules I or II, a class 5 felony punishable upon conviction by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Dreamer was charged with possession of marijuana in a penitentiary, a class 6 felony punishable upon conviction by up to two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
Karr was charged with three counts of sexual acts prohibited between prison employees and prisoners, class 6 felonies each punishable upon conviction by up to two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
“It is up to the vendor for employment issues with this person,” Kaemingk said. “We escort them off the facility, and they are not able to come on a DOC facility again.”
A similar incident occurred in September 2014, when another CBM employee, Tiffany Kyte, 34, of Yankton, had sex on two occasions with inmate Chad Huls, who worked in the dining hall. Kyte pleaded guilty in May to one charge of sexual acts prohibited between prison employees and a prisoner and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years on probation.
Kaemingk said felony crimes happen in South Dakota prisons on occasion, and when they do, the DOC asks the Department of Criminal Investigation to conduct an investigation. Then, the state’s attorney or South Dakota attorney general prosecutes the case.
“We are very good at making sure there’s an arm’s length when there is a crime. We make sure we call in the Division of Criminal Investigation to make sure there’s someone independent to come in to look at an incident that happens,” Kaemingk said.
According to Rabern, corrections officers deal with contraband in prisons “at least on occasion,” and Light Foot and Dreamer may be facing additional prison time for their drug offenses. They could potentially even be charged as habitual offenders, meaning their punishment could be even more severe.
“If they’re prosecuted and convicted, they’ll have additional time on their sentence. That’s typically the recourse if someone has contraband in prison walls,” Rabern said.
‘Reasonable suspicion’
As for Karr, she will not work in a South Dakota prison again, even if she is found not guilty.
Having “reasonable suspicion"—beyond a “reasonable doubt"—that any DOC or vendor employee was involved with an inmate is grounds for termination, according to Kaemingk.
In an attempt to avoid similar situations in the future, the corrections department is in the process of gaining compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which seeks to establish a zero-tolerance standard regarding sexual abuse and sexual harassment of offenders within a correctional setting, according to the DOC website.
Kaemingk said the PREA standards were revamped a few years ago, and every facility must pass an audit every three years. Every South Dakota facility that has been audited has passed PREA standards following its first inspection, Kaemingk said. The only facility remaining is the penitentiary in Sioux Falls, which will be audited next year.
The audit inspects 43 standards addressing tolerance of sexual abuse and harassment, contracting with other entities, supervision, inmates with disabilities, employee training and contractor training among others. In July, Mike Durfee State Prison met 40 standards, exceeded two standards, and one standard — youthful inmates — was not applicable.
In 2013, the most recent information available, there were eight reported incidents of staff sexual harassment, two substantiated, and five reported incidents of staff sexual abuse/touching, three substantiated. At Mike Durfee State Prison, there was one substantiated incident in both categories.
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