Inmate With Hughes County Conviction Dies At State Penitentiary

PIERRE, (KCCR) — The South Dakota Department of Corrections says a 39 year-old inmate at the State Penitentiary has died. Corrections officials say 39 year-old Jason Garreau was found unresponsive in his cell in Sioux Falls on Thursday May 15th. Garreau was serving three sentences at the time of his death. One was an attempted first-degree murder conviction from Hughes County. A second conviction was for Possession of a Controlled Substance by an Inmate in Minnehaha County and a federal conviction for Aggravated Assault against Law Enforcement. Garreau was sentenced on May 28th of 2014 to 25 years in prison on the Attempted First Degree Murder charge. A First Degree Murder charge was dismissed by former Hughes County States Attorney Wendy Kloeppner. Garreau was ordered to pay just over 30-thousand dollars in fees and restitution. At the time of his death he still owed over 29-thousand 500-dollars.