More than $230,000 for former prisoners in annual claims bill

Each year, a joint House-Senate Subcommittee on Claims decides which claims against the state it should fund. This year’s proposal calls for $261,293 in payments in Fiscal Year 2019, the bulk of which would go to three men who were wrongly imprisoned.

Rep. Duane Quam

Sponsored by Rep. Duane Quam (R-Byron), HF4157, the annual claims bill was passed 125-0 Wednesday. It now goes to the Senate where Sen. Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo) is the sponsor.

The Imprisonment and Exoneration Remedies Act was enacted in 2014 to create a compensation process for cases where a person was exonerated of a felony for which they were wrongfully incarcerated.

Under the law, “the claimant is entitled to reimbursement for all restitution, assessments, fees, court costs, and other sums paid by the claimant as required by the judgment and sentence. In addition, the claimant is entitled to monetary damages of not less than $50,000 for each year of imprisonment, and not less than $25,000 for each year served on supervised release or as a registered predatory offender, to be prorated for partial years served.”

Three such cases would be covered under the bill:

• $131,636 to Ronnie Patterson, who spent 679 days in prison and 131 days on supervised release;
• $82,500 to Hollis Larson, who spent 432 days in prison and 93 days on supervised release; and
• $20,446 for Sammy Jackson, who served 104 days in prison.

The bill would also provide $10,209 for a former Stillwater prison inmate who sustained permanent injuries  — including partial amputation — to three fingers while performing assigned duties and $4,195 to cover five claims against the Department of Corrections by individuals who suffered injuries while incarcerated or performing community service or sentence-to-service work.

A $12,305 claim against the Revenue Department is included for taxes improperly paid to the state for transactions occurring in South Dakota. The complainant’s petroleum distribution company paid taxes to Minnesota instead of the neighboring state for one of its delivery sites.