Over the weekend a Huron police officer narrowly escaped injury when his patrol car was rear-ended on the side of the road.

Law enforcement says this is a good reminder of why South Dakota lawmakers beefed up the state’s “Move Over” law in 2020.

The reason for the move over law became apparent in Huron over the holiday weekend. A city police officer was helping with traffic Saturday morning during the annual Andy’s Road race when he saw a car in his rearview mirror.

Continue reading “A closer look at South Dakota’s Move Over law” →

On Thursday September 8, 2022, federal prisoners across the country eagerly awaited the announcement of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) auto-calculation of First Step Act credits. For many Low and Minimum security inmates, the announcement landed with a thud.

The First Step Act (FSA) was one of the most sweeping pieces of criminal justice reform in decades. Signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2018, the law allowed eligible inmates, those with an unlikely chance of recidivism and low or minimum security, to earn credits toward an earlier release from prison. Those credits were to be earned by prisoners participating in certain needs-based educational programs and actively participating in productive activities, like a prison job. For every 30 days of successful participation, the prisoner could earn up to 15 days off their sentence up to a maximum of 12 months (365 days). That is what the law states, but the BOP added a new wrinkle stating that those with short sentences, who are also more likely to be minimum or low security, will get no benefit of an earlier release.

A memorandum posted to federal prisoners on Thursday stated:

“Eligible inmates will continue to earn FTC [Federal Time Credits] toward early release until they have accumulate 365 days OR are 18 months from their release date, whichever happens first [emphasis added by BOP]. At this point, the release date becomes fixed, and all additional FTCs are applied toward RRC/HC [Residential Reentry Centers / Home Confinement] placement.”

The effect will be that those prisoners with short sentences will get no reduction in their sentence, something that clearly goes against the BOP’s own experts on FSA.

When a federal prisoner is sentenced, they receive 54 days of Good Conduct Time as soon as they are in federal custody. For someone sentenced to 21 months in prison, that means they would get 94 days of Good Conduct Time (54 days for 12 months then a prorated annual amount of 54 days for the other 9 months) immediately taken off their sentence. So long as the prisoner obeys the rules, their release date would be the 21 months less the 94 days. When FSA came along, the intent was to allow that same prisoner to earn additional days which could be applied to effectively reducing the sentence (a sooner transfer to supervised release, a type of probation). However, the new BOP memorandum takes that away from prisoners by setting what is an arbitrary 18 month, until release, cut-off for receiving FSAs to reduce the sentence. The result is going to be that thousands of federal inmates, many minimum security, will remain in prison for months longer than Congress intended when it passed the law.

Read the full story at Forbes.

In Texas, children and teens in the juvenile justice system are routinely locked in cells for all but 30 minutes a day, and nearly half are on suicide watch.

This week, the director of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, the agency in charge of the state’s five juvenile prisons, told lawmakers the system is on the verge of collapse. The hearing came a week after the Texas Tribune revealed just how dire the situation is for the almost 600 young people in custody. Several youth reported having to use water bottles as makeshift toilets on weekends because there is not enough staff to get them to the bathroom.

Continue reading “Confronting America’s ‘Cruel and Unusual’ Juvenile Justice System Crisis” →

Of the more than 11,000 federal inmates who were released to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17 were returned to prison for committing new crimes, according to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

In response to a query from Keri Blakinger, a reporter for The Marshall Project, the Bureau of Prisons said that of the 17, 10 committed drug crimes, while the rest of the charges included smuggling non-citizens, nonviolent domestic disturbance, theft, aggravated assault, and DUI.

Continue reading “11,000 Federal Inmates Were Sent Home During the Pandemic. Only 17 Were Arrested for New Crimes.” →

The University of South Dakota athletics department has unveiled its plan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX throughout the 2022-23 academic year.

Title IX, which was signed into law on June 23, 1972, states that no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Continue reading “University of South Dakota unveils plans for Title IX 50th anniversary celebrations” →

On this episode of The Bracewell Sidebar, hosts Matthew Nielsen and Seth DuCharme discuss how one goes about getting a search warrant in light of recent events, including what is required and what inferences can be fairly drawn from the existence of a warrant.

Continue reading “How to get a Search Warrant” →

New Biden administration rules that put homemade firearm kits used to build “ghost guns” in the same legal category as traditional firearms went into effect on Wednesday after federal judges declined requests to pause the change.

The regulations require that the main components used to manufacture ghost guns — the frames and receivers — be assigned serial numbers. They also require that buyers undergo background checks before purchasing the components and that dealers be federally licensed to sell the kits and keep records of sales.

Continue reading “Federal ‘ghost gun’ regulations go into effect after judges reject challenges” →

Continue reading “Burn pit law passes, but struggles may remain” →

A state law allowing landowners to privatize access to sections of public lakes continues to cause confusion in northeastern South Dakota.

Ryan Roehr has been fishing in the Webster area all his life. He’s also a board member for the South Dakota Wildlife Federation.

Continue reading “Concerns persist over law limiting public access to lakes” →

The federal government can’t use “circumstantial evidence” to permanently confiscate nearly $70,000 in cash, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday. “While it may be dubious to drive around with a large amount of cash in one’s car,” Judge Julius Richardson wrote for the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, “it does not create an inescapable inference of criminal activity. Not using a bank does not necessarily make one a criminal.”

Continue reading “Federal Court Upholds The Right To Carry Cash” →