Separate lives

In Gunnison, the lights from the Central Utah Correctional Facility dominate the northern nighttime sky. Many of the small city's residents draw their paychecks from the state prison, and most businesses attribute their survival, at least in some form, to those employees. Even the high school football program can trace its roots to the prison.

The Draper skyline glows much brighter — a glow that would hardly dim without the lights of the Utah State Prison. Nor would the city's businesses suffer without the prison, because few Draper residents work there. For many residents, the physical separation created by I-15 is a distinct line that puts the state prison somewhere else, not in their community.

Regardless of their involvement with the city, the prisons are technically part of their respective hometowns. The prison can create a viable enterprise on empty ground, as in Gunnison, or can occupy a large space of valuable, developable land, as in Draper. And because of the fact that inmates are counted as residents of that city, census numbers can create an image, both positive and negative, that does not accurately reflect the city.

For example, 2000 Census numbers show both cities have minority populations that hover around the state average for diversity of 10 percent. Take the prisons out of the equations, and the minority numbers plummet. Because prisoners are over 18 years old, the cities' average age increases. The percentage of homeowners, one indicator of the wealth of the city, decreases.

One thing the numbers do not distort is the comparative value the prison has for the two cities. Draper's prison population is barely 15 percent of its overall population. Gunnison, on the other hand, has a prison population that is a third of its total population, and the impacts are that much greater.

Two state prisons, two prison towns. Two very different stories.

Football and tractor parts

When the Gunnison Bulldogs take the football field, they can thank the nearby state prison for their program.

Prison guards helped coach the first teams almost a year ago. The team helped fill its roster with the additional students whose families had moved to Gunnison for prison employment. The bleachers were donated by prison officials and constructed by inmates.