PIERRE, S.D.(WNAX)- A report from a consulting group says the State of South Dakota should spend up to a half billion dollars to replace and upgrade aging prison facilities. The report says the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls should be abandoned with new facilities being built in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and several towns in-between.

Senator Reynold Nesiba of Sioux Falls says there needs to be more discussion of what is at stake.

Nesiba says many inmates are stuck between punishment and rehabilitation.

Nesiba says this discussion should be folded into the talks about what counties need for their jail facilities.

Legislators have talked about a summer study to look at the issue of county jails.