“It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those who don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just too real”
“Forgiveness” - Matthew West

The first single from his 2012 “Into the Light” album, “Forgiveness” was successful on Christian music charts for Matthew West, peaking at No. 2 and spending 40 weeks on the top 100 Christian music chart, but its impact is far beyond commercial success.

West began his music career in the late 1990s as an independent musician but really gained notoriety with his 2003 album, “Happy.” He had success with his next two releases, but then West went through major vocal issues that required surgery to repair and nearly ended his musical career. Returning from that career-threatening scare, West took his immense songwriting talents (he’s written number one songs for both secular and Christian artists) and decided to apply those talents to telling the stories of his fans in song form. The first album of such songs, “The Story of Your Life,” was released in 2010, and “Into the Light” was West’s next album with multiple songs on that album also inspired by letters and stories from fans.

“Forgiveness” began as the story of a mother named Renee Napier whose 20-year-old daughter was out with a friend and was killed by a drunk driver as they were returning home. Renee struggled with grief and that turned into hatred and bitterness toward the young man, Eric, who drove drunk that night and was serving a sentence in prison for his action.

Instead, Napier says that she felt like the prisoner in that moment, locked inside herself with the hatred and hurt she was feeling. She made the decision that she could not remain in that dark place. She reached out to Eric in prison and forgave him, something he was still unable to do for himself at that moment.

She didn’t stop there. Renee’s family soon followed expressing forgiveness, including the twin daughter of the daughter who was lost. Renee and her family then began advocating for Eric and got his sentence reduced significantly.

Renee’s story and the song West wrote inspired such a response that West put together a book titled “Forgiveness: Overcoming the Impossible” filled with stories of many whose lives were changed by giving or receiving forgiveness.

In reality, that’s exactly what the criminal justice system is supposed to provide - someone expressing acceptance of committing a societal wrong, paying that “debt” to society, and then returning to the world to become a productive member of society.

Somewhere along the way, that message has been misconstrued in this country.

If every United States state was its own independent country, the incarceration per capita rate of nine states would rank ahead of the second-highest country, Cuba. El Salvador would remain the top country per capita, at 1,086 incarcerated persons per 100,000 population.

South Dakota is among those nine states that would rank above Cuba, with a rate of 812 inmates per 100,000 people. Interestingly, it is the first state outside of the South to be ranked.

You can see the push toward incarceration with the current rates of housed inmates in the state. On an average day in the state, 6,500 people are locked up, with the majority (3,400) in state prisons. Local jails make up 1,500 of those behind bars in the state on an average day, and 1,300 are in federal prisons. The remainder are in juvenile facilities, tribal jails, or under involuntary mental health commitment at a jail facility.

While the state operates 10 adult facilities, the one most people know about is the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. It is true that the current building is beyond affordable repair and is significantly overfull, with a capacity of between 450 and 500 inmates but operating with 750 inmates housed currently.

That 750 inmate number is definitely one that raised some red flags, even for proponents of a new penitentiary facility, at the legislature in Pierre this year. The proposed facility to be built would hold 1,500 inmates. That’s double the current inmate population.

While we’ve not reached the point of utilizing private prison contracting like many states (including many of the ones ahead of S.D. on the incarceration per capita list), the state is still making significant money on the jailed.

Our own South Dakota State Fair has utilized prison labor to prepare the grounds for the annual fair each year. Even hiring a number of high school students looking for a part-time summer job would likely cost the state $10-20 per hour per worker. Instead, the prisoners are paid in the range of 25 cents per hour for the same work.

Contracting out prison labor is often done at a rate of $5 per hour per laborer by the S.D. Department of Corrections, according to available data from the Prison Policy Initiative. The prison staff who supervise the inmates at the penitentiary make $25 per hour to start. So, a staff of six prisoners supervised by a staff would cost $30 per hour to the contractee but the state would only be paying staff and prisoners $26.50 for that work - now figure in the savings of paying prisoners to do maintenance and janitorial work in the prison versus paying a similar professional more than $20 per hour, and you quickly see how work done by prisoners in and out of the prison system can be a significant money-maker for the state.

Two summers ago, then-Representative Lynn Schneider served on a legislative summer study committee that examined the condition of county and city jails across the state and found that the conditions were extremely rough. However, rather than taking that report and investing in local facilities that could work more closely with their community and prevent unneeded over-incarceration, the state’s idea seems to be to allow those dilapidated facilities to continue in disrepair until counties across the state are shipping their short-term jail inmates to the state penitentiary.

The Beadle County Commission recently approved the daily rate for the multiple counties that our local jail houses at $105 per day per inmate. Do you really think that the state penitentiary will charge less, especially with a new facility? So, our counties in the state would be paying into the state to house prisoners because the choice was made to allow local jails to become unusable.

The goal of criminal justice should be to find those who are responsible for illegal actions that affect the community, imprisoning them for an alotted time as deemed by the laws on the books, and during that incarceration, working with the offender to allow for a safe and productive return to society.

Unfortunately, that last part is not being emphasized in the state, and that is part of the many questions that led to the failure of multiple bills to fund the new prison facility this year in the legislature.

I have been to multiple church services at St. Dysmas, the Lutheran congregation within the state penitentiary, and I can attest to the need for upgraded facilities. You won’t hear me argue that the facility upgrade is not needed.

But for what purpose? If we’re simply jailing people to bring additional income to the state, no, thank you. We need to get back to those roots of rehabilitation and community forgiveness that are supposed to be at the heart of a criminal justice system, then create a facility centered around that end goal.