Changes in works for prison

A security review of all 21 county jails with contracts to house Utah prison inmates is finished, and Utah Department of Corrections chief Tom Patterson says changes are coming — including new policies and the possibility of pulling all murderers out of the jails.

With a too-crowded prison system and lawmakers who are historically hesitant to pay for more beds, the department instead ships state inmates to county jails. In the past the deal has been one corrections officials called "a partnership that works."

But when two convicted murderers — both state inmates — escaped from the Daggett County Jail last month, that partnership suffered "a dramatic failure," Patterson said. The pair, captured after six days on the lam, were being held at the jail in tiny Manila, near Flaming Gorge in northeastern Utah.

The escape prompted a major re-evaluation of the state's inmate-placement program, Patterson said. Now he believes the state/county system needs modifications — and the prisons need better funding.

"We have to intervene," Patterson said. "Those are our inmates. We have to have a more active role."

Why county jails?

Prison officials started shipping inmates to county jails in 1988 to relieve overcrowding problems at the state's prison facilities. That year, six inmates were housed in county jails.

Today, 1,533 state inmates are scattered across the state.

Jailers can pick and choose which state inmates they will allow into their facilities.

State inmates are separated into classifications based on behavior — not criminal — charges. In essence, a murderer who behaves could be shipped to a county jail, while someone incarcerated on a lesser charge but who acts up might end up locked in prison.

"We're very selective in what inmates we take," Weber County Sheriff Brad Slater said.

The state pays counties $42 a day to keep the inmates locked away, according to a Department of Corrections report titled "Jail Programs: A State and Local Partnership that Works."

Deputy Corrections Director Mike Haddon said, "The counties are a much cheaper option," since it would cost the state more than $72 per person to house those same inmates at a state prison. "It's a cost benefit for us to house them out at the counties," Haddon said.