Oxbow Jail open, but budget woes are concern

While rehabilitation proponents lauded Saturday the reopening of Salt Lake County's mothballed Oxbow Jail, the ongoing fiscal dilemma that has decimated county government coffers could lead to those same doors being closed again in as little as six months.

In the near term, the newly available 184 beds that represent about a third of Oxbow's capacity will allow the county to expand a variety of programs aimed at breaking the cycle of recidivism. That cycle, according to county officials, traces back in large part to habitual offenders struggling with chemical dependency and mental health issues.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon has fought for reopening the facility since his first term in office and on Friday called it a clear step forward in the county's justice process.

"I think it's another piece of our strategy in improving how we deal with crime and criminals," Corroon said. "It's a model that I think will help … address what got prisoners into jail in the first place, which we recognize are often mental health and substance abuse issues."

Gary Dalton, director of Salt Lake County's Criminal Justice Services, said more than 40,000 people countywide are in need of services to deal with chemical dependency and mental health issues.

Studies of Salt Lake County's jail population have shown that 70 to 80 percent of low-level repeat offenders are facing just these kinds of challenges, and a major contributor to a chronically overcrowded Metro Jail. Public programs that focus on those issues, whether connected to incarceration or not, all struggle with the volume of those in need, but the Oxbow programs will make a difference, Dalton said.

"While this expands our capacity for treatment … especially in the area of substance abuse, what's really exciting is the ability to get people into ongoing programs when they're out of jail," Dalton said.

Three new agents will be overseeing 170 re-entry clients that will segue from treatment in jail to post-incarceration programs that will continue to address dependency issues as well as provide other opportunities for vocational training and aid in finding stable housing, he said. All of these efforts seek to re-establish offenders as contributing members of their communities and keep them from returning to jail.