Sharing addiction wellness behind the walls of South Dakota prisons
Published Oct. 20, 2025
Behind the walls of prison, Lorie Seeking Land took every course she could. She learned to budget so she could afford to call loved ones. She started going to the gym, journaling and making a five-year plan.
More than eight years later, she’s back behind those same walls, helping other women learn to love themselves and plan for life post release.
“I help them recognize how to make their life better,” Lorie said. “When I see that lightbulb go off, it’s amazing to watch that little glimmer of hope and the knowledge that they can do this. They just want someone to see them and hear them and accept them for who they are.”
As part of a four-year grant awarded to the Community Practice Innovation Center at South Dakota State University, Lorie started one-on-one peer coaching in the South Dakota Women’s Prison earlier this year.
“It’s like they were just waiting for someone to see them and actually ask those hard questions. It’s stuff that they don’t get to talk about with anyone else,” she said. “I can see the relief in their bodies just by sharing their stories with me.”
The project enables the Face It TOGETHER team to work closely with START-SD, the South Dakota Department of Corrections, Brothers and Sisters Behind Bars and St. Dysmas to share addiction wellness care across the state.
“By coaching individuals before and after release, we can ease that transition and help them thrive in whichever South Dakota community they choose,” said Megan Colwell, Face It TOGETHER CEO. “This grant marks and important opportunity to reduce recidivism and help get people well.”
Soon, Nick Pappas, another Face It TOGETHER peer coach, will start the same process in the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield, SD and the Yankton Minimum Center in Yankton, SD.
Lorie has already seen a high demand for support in the Pierre facility, and she looks forward to helping even more women.
“I can say that we have so many women interested in this project. I could go there Monday through Friday and not be able to see them all,” she said. “What we’re doing must be working, because these ladies want an outlet.”
The mentor she needed
Lorie is a survivor of sexual trauma, meth addiction and post-incarceration. After she was released from her 10-year prison sentence, she realized she didn’t have a mentor who understood what she was going through. Now, she gets to be that mentor.
The first thing she does when meeting with women for the first time is reassure them that everything they talk about is private. She shares some of her own story and helps them envision a hopeful future.
“They’re learning to love themselves as the weeks go by,” she said. “It’s important for them to know they are worth it. They’re worth starting over and having a good life.”
Lorie has already seen transformation in her coaching members. One woman in particular is visibly feeling more confident week by week.
“The first time I talked to her, she wasn’t taking care of herself. The second time she came in, her hair was braided. The third time, her makeup was done and she had french braids,” she said. “I could really see the change in her. She was happy, and she had hope. I’m really expecting a lot from her when it comes to self-love, self-worth and confidence.”
When Lorie reflects on her own time in prison, she thinks about the women who were her support system. They’d play Uno outside on one of the coveted shaded picnic tables and help each other. They set goals, shared stamps and even made calls to one another’s family members.
“Prison movies don’t really show you the good people and what they’re doing,” she said. “It’s all the fighting and drama, not the people building their lives behind the walls. One of those women opened a restaurant; one got her kids back and started a daycare. Dreams do happen coming out of prison.”
An important element of Lorie’s work includes helping women prepare for stress and addiction triggers outside of prison.
“Once they feel like they’ve been heard, we start putting a plan together,” she said. “I ask the practical, personal questions to help them succeed. ‘Who are you going to call when you need to be picked up? Who are your safe people? What’s your exit strategy? What are safe places to work?’ We create a wheel of safety and talk through scenarios they’ll probably run into.”
Lorie encourages her members behind the walls to write the story of their perfect day once released. Those stories give her hope and help her envision a movement of women sharing healing and wellness after incarceration.
“They start with the moment they wake up and use their own products, style their hair, all those little things they don’t get in prison,” she said. “They describe being reunited with their kids and taking them to the park. They smile when they read what they’ve written. If they visualize that perfect day, they’re going to reach for it.”