Local Inmates Granted Commutations of Sentences

Posted on Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Gov. Mike Rounds has reduced the sentences of 171 state prison inmates for their work on community service or special projects or their completion of their GED or firefighter certification. Because of this action, 13 inmates will be able to leave the corrections system before the Christmas holiday. On December 3, 2007, Gov. Rounds signed an Order Granting Commutations of Sentence for minimum security status inmates who performed work on projects such as cleaning-up South Dakota communities, fire suppression, or roofing and tuck pointing state buildings. Commutations were also issued to minimum-security status inmates who completed their GED or firefighter certification. Richard West, Jared Jeratowski, and Nathan Erickson of Lake County, Troy Krier and Jeffrey Graham of Moody County and Bradley Witte of McCook County were all granted commutations of sentence.

The sentence reductions are in 60-day and 90-day increments. Inmates who worked 200 hours on select community service or over 8 hours on specific special projects received 60-day sentence reductions. Inmates who completed their GED or firefighter certification received a 60-day sentence reduction. Inmates who fulfilled two or more of these criteria received 90-day sentence reductions.