PIERRE — The South Dakota Senate has voted to approve a governor-led bill to purchase land in northeast Sioux Falls and build a 1,500-bed, multimillion-dollar men's prison on the parcel.

The Senate met Sept. 23 after a joint select committee comprised of lawmakers from both chambers — all of whom took part in Gov. Larry Rhoden's Project Prison Reset task force on the selection of the prison — convened to debate the issue of whether or not to appropriate $650 million to the state Department of Corrections for both the purchase of the land and for the construction of the prison facility and more than $78 million transfer of state funds to a prison construction fund.

The joint committee passed the bill Sept. 23, with 13 members for the prison funding bill and two — House Speaker Jon Hanse

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