By: John Hult
SPRINGFIELD, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – Another inmate died this week in the custody of the South Dakota Department of Corrections, continuing a trend of higher-than-average prison deaths.
South Dakota tracks in-custody deaths by state fiscal year. That time period runs from July 1 to June 30. The state is currently in fiscal year 2026.
Nineteen inmates died in the recently concluded 2025 fiscal year, which is more than any year since at least 2018, the earliest year for which data is readily available.
The apparent suicide of 25-year-old Justin Copier on Sunday in his cell at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield is the second death of fiscal year 2026.
The Department of Corrections sends a notice to the press each time an inmate dies in its care. The agency doesn’t always list a cause of death, but one particular cause has drawn the attention of state investigators four times this calendar year.
Four of the in-custody deaths are confirmed or suspected overdoses on the campus of the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. Two of them, the deaths of 20-year-old Anthony Richards and 39-year-old Jason Garreau, have drawn criminal charges for those accused of providing them with drugs.
The state Division of Criminal Investigation is still looking into the other two cases, the June 10 death of 42-year-old Nicholas Skorka and May 18 death of Joshua Arrow.
Arrow’s death was an overdose. Skorka’s cause of death was not officially known as of Monday, according to DCI spokesman Tony Mangan.
Comments