Don't sell Oxbow Jail

It is with utter dismay that I continually see Mayor Workman trying to sell the Salt Lake County Oxbow Jail to the state of Utah. The Oxbow Jail was built to house nonviolent offenders and was part of a corrections master plan that included the new metro jail. All laundry and baking facilities were built into the Oxbow Jail to serve both jails. The Oxbow Jail is not just collecting dust; the laundry is being operated by the inmate labor detail who do the laundry for over 2,000 metro jail prisoners. The inmate labor detail at Oxbow also manufactures and repairs all inmate clothing at a substantial savings to the county.

The metro jail is presently full with 2,045 prisoners. If Mayor Workman sells (gives) the Oxbow Jail to the state of Utah for $7 million to $10 million, Salt Lake County taxpayers will then be requested to shortly approve a bond of between $30 million to $35 million to fund a new pod on the metro jail and also to build a laundry.

I would expect Mayor Workman and the County Council to better protect this valuable asset, which only has $3 million left to be paid on the bond. To sell it would be fleecing the taxpayers and an injustice to the law enforcement community of Salt Lake County.

Dan Ipson

West Jordan