South Dakota kills child for the holidays

The Division of Criminal Investigation is reviewing procedures at a Black Hills 'boot camp' after another child died while in the custody of South Dakota 'Corrections.' Brady Folkens of Brookings was 17.

Folkens’ mother, Dawn Van Ballegooyen, said she went to Custer to visit him Saturday and was told he was ill when she arrived. She talked to her son, who said he had been sick for a few days and had thrown up. Medical staff told her he had liver blockage. “He was awake, and he was a little yellow,” she said. “But he was my same Brady.” Corrections spokesman Michael Winder said Folkens said he felt ill beginning Thursday. Shortly after his mother’s visit, Folkens was flown to Sioux Falls. Van Ballegooyen followed in a vehicle, and had her sister meet Brady at the hospital. But by the time she arrived at the hospital in Sioux Falls, her son had died, and staff were working to revive him. [Beth Wischmeyer, Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

Flown from the Custer Airport to Sioux Falls, about 350 miles: a flight of at least two hours in a state plane? Why was he not helicoptered to Rapid City about fifteen minutes away? Why was Brady admitted to the State Treatment and Rehabilitation (STAR) Academy and not screened for hepatitis C?

Ms. Van Ballegooyen drove at least 450 miles back to Sioux Falls: she should sue the state into bankruptcy.

The state has a history of poor choices made by state employees: fourteen year old Gina Score died after a forced run in 1999.

After he used a Taser on an 8-year old girl, a Pierre police officer was recently exonerated by the GOP-dominated investigative agency. Her parents are expected to sue.

In 2010, a young unarmed American Indian man was killed after a Pennington County deputy shot him five times.

I remember when friends had to spend Xmas at boarding school or in juvenile detention. Thinking of kids like that today too. Hang in there.
— Ruth Hopkins (@_RuthHopkins) December 25, 2013