Overview

The Pennington County Jail in Rapid City is the secondary ICE holding facility in South Dakota. It receives detainer requests after Minnehaha County Jail (Sioux Falls) and the SD State Penitentiary. ICE has a listed facility page for this jail on ice.gov.

ICE Relationship

• Listed on ICE.gov as a detention facility
• IGSA contract (confirmed by heatmap data)
• No confirmed 287(g) agreement for the sheriff’s office specifically (the statewide Highway Patrol and DCI agreements cover Rapid City area enforcement)
• 3 National Guard members assigned to process ICE paperwork in Rapid City (August 2025)

Pipeline Position

Pennington County Jail handles ICE detainees from western South Dakota, while Minnehaha handles the east. Both feed into the Fort Snelling ERO field office system for longer-term detention.

Operation Prairie Thunder

Hot Springs (Fall River County, adjacent to Pennington) was the site of the 12th Operation Prairie Thunder saturation patrol in March 2026, suggesting active enforcement in the western SD corridor.

Sources

• Pennington County Jail | ICE detention facility page
• SD Searchlight: National Guard troops begin processing immigration paperwork for ICE
• Operation Prairie Thunder wraps up 12th patrol in Hot Springs