(Spearfish, SD) — The South Dakota Supreme Court could make a decision in the case of Neighbors against the State of South Dakota today. It’s a dispute over zoning rules for the planned location of a new men’s prison in Lincoln County between Canton and Harrisburg. Arguments were heard from both sides yesterday with the state saying it doesn’t need to follow county zoning rules for the prison while lawyers for the plaintiffs say the state should. Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion, or NOPE, sued the state after the announcement of the prison site over a year ago. A South Dakota judge previously dismissed the lawsuit. But that decision was appealed. This all comes after the exact location in Lincoln County fell through in February with the failure of a legislative effort to appropriate money to build the new prison.
