Corrections officials trim 35 jobs in budget proposal

Approximately 35 jobs will be axed when the Utah Department of Corrections submits its proposed budget to the state.

The majority of the jobs were already unfilled or addressed through voluntary retirement or reassignment to other jobs within corrections, said department spokeswoman Angie Welling.

While the number of employees who will be laid off has not yet been finalized, Welling expected "just a few" would end up ultimately losing their jobs.

"This has obviously been an arduous process, and one that we have sought to carry out with fairness to and respect for the entire Department of Corrections staff," she said in an e-mail to the Deseret News. "We value our dedicated staff and recognize that these changes will be difficult for those directly impacted, as well as for those staff members who will be asked to shoulder more responsibility in the future."

Corrections has been ordered to make cuts to address part of an overall $272 million state revenue shortfall this budget year. The governor called the Legislature into special session last month to address the shortfall. The cuts will not slow any expansion of the prison system, however.

It also may not help a department that has struggled to hire officers for the prison facilities.

Beyond job cuts, corrections has had to make cuts to prison programs being offered to inmates. Those include employment workshops for prisoners about to be released, substance abuse therapy and behavioral therapy for parolees. Some inmates will now be required to pay for their electronic monitoring devices, and halfway houses will lose about 40 beds for sex offenders, Welling said.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com