Charities and Corrections, Board of

The Board of Charities and Corrections (BCC) was established under the South Dakota State Constitution to manage the state's charitable and penal institutions. These institutions included the hospitals for the insane and "feebleminded," the tuberculosis sanatorium, the state penitentiary, and the Plankinton reform school. The BCC also briefly had jurisdiction over the School for the Deaf (Sioux Falls) and the School for the Blind (Gary), before they were transferred to the South Dakota Board of Regents in 1945.

As part of a major reorganization of state government in 1973, the Board of Charities and Corrections was placed under the newly created Department of Social Services as the division of Corrections.

In 1988, voters passed a constitutional amendment which placed charitable and penal institutions under legislative rules and restrictions, rather than under the control of the BCC. This effectively abolished the BCC, and replaced it with two cabinet-level departments: the Department of Corrections, and the Department of Human Services. The Department of Corrections assumed responsibility for the penal institutions, while the Department of Human Services assumed responsibility for the charitable institutions.

In 2011, as part of a larger reorganization of state government, the Human Services Center was moved from the Department of Human Services to the Mental Health Division of the Department of Social Services.