Utah DOC: Nearing Capacity, No Relief In Sight
Utah’s prison population is nearing its capacity of some 6,700 inmates and a hoped-for release valve won’t be available, the head of the prison system warned legislators Tuesday. Story from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Tom Patterson, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections, said the ranks of the incarcerated are growing by a net of 21 inmates a month. The prison system currently is 71 male inmates under its operating capacity — which is 95 percent of its total number of beds — and 40 female inmates below that system’s capacity, he said. “We’ll hit that fairly soon, again, with no plan for future inmates,” Patterson told lawmakers.
A 300-bed center intended to house inmates who violate their parole, which was postponed last session, may now be on hold indefinitely, as the company that had been hired to build the center has told the department it can no longer construct the facility. The prison system also lost a planned 192-bed expansion in Gunnison, a 40-bed transition facility and an 80-bed diagnostic center. Patterson said the department has taken a series of steps that have kept down its incarceration rates, which typically rise during an economic downturn. “We could be in a world of hurt” otherwise, he said. But Patterson said he remains upbeat about the department and his staff’s willingness to persevere.
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