By Dirk Lammers
Rapid City Journal
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The new warden of the South Dakota State Penitentiary said he’s learned over his career to constantly question why things are done.
Darin Young spent 21 years with the prison system before taking the top job for just under two years at the Minnehaha County Jail. Learning a new system from top to bottom before returning to the prison allowed him to get into the habit of questioning everything, he said.
“Even if it was a procedure or a rule that I wrote myself 10 years ago, everything is up for review,” Young said Thursday in his first extended interview since taking the top job. “Because it may have been a good idea 10 years ago, but is it still a good idea today and is it the best way of doing business.”
Young replaced Doug Weber, who retired from the position of director of prison operations and chief warden in June. He reports to Mike Durfee State Prison Warden Bob Dooley, who assumed the director of prison operations and chief warden duties upon Weber’s retirement.
The penitentiary revisited many of its safety procedures in 2011 after two inmates killed guard Ronald Johnson during a botched escape attempt.
Full story: New SD prison warden says all rules up for review