SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — To get a better idea of just how many crimes involve repeat offenders, we took a look at who is in the Minnehaha County Jail.

KELOLAND News on Wednesday morning put together a list of the 25 most recent people booked into jail. We looked into their criminal backgrounds and discovered 21 of those inmates were repeat offenders. Some had lengthy criminal records, including a woman with seven pending cases. Another inmate got out of prison in September and had been arrested twice since then.

“We can catch the bad guys, but if the [Unified Judicial System] and the court system doesn’t allow us to put the right sentences in place, or the parole system lets people out who shouldn’t be out, we have a cyclical recidivism problem,” Sioux Falls mayor Paul TenHaken said Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Sioux Falls community leaders highlighted Senate Bill 146, which would “limit parole” for people who commit violent crimes.

“Daniel Haggar was basically the author of that bill, worked hard with others to draft it and get it edited down to what we believe is a truth in sentencing bill, something that I think that those victims of crime deserve,” Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead said Tuesday.

“We need partners in the court system, in the justice system, in the parole system to ensure that our communities are safe, and that’s what SB 146 helps us with,” TenHaken said Tuesday.

KELOLAND News asked Haggar, the state’s attorney for Minnehaha County, on Wednesday about the scope of the problem of repeat offenders.

“It is a problem, right, anytime we have repeat offenders,” Haggar said. “It means that we as a system haven’t done a good job of either punishing, deterring, or rehabilitating that person.”

Data from Wednesday underscores the point.

“I talked with a couple of the lawyers at my office who did the charge-outs today,” Haggar said. “We had eight new felony charges. Seven of those eight had prior convictions so it is a problem.”

Haggar believes SB 146 becoming law would be part of a solution; the legislation passed the House and Senate and now waits for the governor’s signature. He says new software will soon help track whether or not his office is seeing more repeat offenders.

“I can’t really pull that information right now, but one of the reasons I wanted to transition to a new system is so that we can start tracking it,” Haggar said. “We’re going to be able to track that much more efficiently moving forward.”