South Dakota Corrections Sec. Wasko, prison opposition group won't be meeting Thursday

Meeting had been scheduled prior to filing of Lincoln County landowner lawsuit against state

A planned meeting between Lincoln County property owners opposed to a men's prison and South Dakota Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko isn’t happening.

Last week, Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion (NOPE), a group organized in opposition to the site of a new men's prison near Worthing, had received and accepted an invitation from the Department of Corrections to discuss the project with Wasko and other DOC staff at a neutral site Thursday evening in Canton. But that meeting — or at least the state’s presence at it —has been nixed, a result of a lawsuit filed against Wasko and the DOC by NOPE, according to the state's legal counsel.

“Last Thursday, the state reached out to invite the NOPE group to meet with Secretary Kellie Wasko and DOC staff at the Gates City Event Center. Then the following day, you filed a lawsuit naming the state of South Dakota, South Dakota Department of Corrections, and Secretary Kellie Wasko as defendants,” wrote DOC staff attorney Addyson Aguirre in a letter sent to NOPE attorney Arvid Swanson Tuesday.

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