Tough laws adding to prison woes

Hutchings said the University of Utah is documenting that very topic for the Utah Sentencing Commission this summer and suggested the commission meet with the Judiciary Committee to review the study when finished.

Jack Ford, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said in an earlier interview that Utah has one of the lowest incarceration rates in the nation, with 240 people imprisoned per 100,000 people. The national average is 488 per 100,000.

"We get half the number of people coming to prison because they usually are placed on probation," he said, adding that by the time someone is incarcerated, it usually is for violent crimes or they are a repeat offender.

Still, prison population growth is a problem. "We're getting 200-250 people per year," Ford said.

The state is building new prison housing at Gunnison, a 288-bed dorm housing facility and 192-bed cell housing facility. There were 6,502 individuals in the system earlier this week, but that number fluctuates as individuals are admitted and released.

The Legislature also has added funds for the prison system to contract with county jails to hold state inmates. Currently there are 1,277 state prisoners in county jails.

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