Didn't they just spend a lot of money trying to recruit new people only a month ago? I would be pissed...

HR PERSON: Thank you for attending today's new employee orientation. Your fired.

When budget cutbacks require felons to pay for their own Parole-ordered anger management, domestic violence, mental health, or substance abuse treatment the public probably doesn't realize that many of these felons have just gotten out of prison and most don't have jobs to earn money to pay for treatment. Or if they do have jobs many can't find employers who will pay them much so that they afford to feed themselves, pay for housing, and for a number of them pay for necessities for their families, wives, kids much less pay for $30-$120 a week fees that they would need to pay for treatment. Does the public want felons, some of whom haven't address their anger issues or drug/alcohol dependency out of prison in our communities without treatment? Who pays then?

It's interesting to look at the employees that Corrections has laid off.

It suspiciously looks like they're using this situation as an excuse to get rid of employees they simply don't like. The problem with RIF's is that they allow a way for management to target staff they see as disloyal or oppositional without going through a disciplinary process.

The legislative committee over Corrections as well as DHRM should take a good look at how Corrections decided to RIF the employees chosen.

T.L.U., WE pay, ultimately. If we offer no hope to those who most desperately need it, that hopelessness and its after effects are absorbed by us in higher crime rates, disconnected families and cycles of abuse. It also limits officer's options to the most expensive of all: incarceration with no treatment.

I can see making certain budget cuts in some area, but I think the LAST place we want to make any cuts is in corrections. The crime rate is going UP, not down, and despite the current economic downturn the allotment of taxpayer money given to the DOC should go up as well.

If anything, Corrections should be receiving more money, not less. Much of the reason behind paroling inmates is that the system cannot afford to house them, be they rapists, robbers, druggies, or pedophiles. You gotta let 'em out before you can let the new criminals in. Doing that lets some very scary people out among society with minimal supervision. It is so hit and miss with good and negligent Parole Officers.

This Department, like Public Education should have been held harmless in the budget cuts. It's a dangerous job and we need good people willing to stay on to do the job right.

The last time Corrections tried to cut back, Officer Stephen Anderson was shot and killed. Don't let this happen again.

Talk about short-sighted thinking. Cutting money on these programs costs society -- and the State government -- far more money than you save. The classic cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The Legislature should have held Corrections harmless. But along with public education and corrections, a lot of things should have been held harmless, like higher education, Medicaid, transportation, human services, natural resources, environmental quality, WIC, TANF, general assistance, and food stamps.

Why didn't they just raise taxes to balance the budget? What's so hard about that?

If the population of Utah really wanted to be tough on crime (gang bangers, increasing murder rate, etc) why would they NOT want to support the DOC?

Whenever there's a major crime, comments here are tough-sounding - but when anyone dares bringing up higher taxes to fund NEW prisons, they get shouted down by the "hang 'em quick" crowd.

Sad.

While I am politically to the left of the staunchly conservative Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, he has been a strong defender of continued funding for the Utah Department of Corrections. In a recent newspaper article regarding the budget cuts, he seems to be one of the few legislators talking sensibly about the consequences of Correction budget cuts. For me, this is a bipartisan issue, which I hope will be revisited in the near future by the next state legislature and Governor next years.

Shows they were overstaffed for years, doesn't it? Fatcats leeching money from the taxpayers. Put all these criminals in a tent jail like the Arizona sheriff. Cut out the coffee, sweets, tea, soda and anything not actually healthful in the diet. Cut costs by keeping winter temps at 68 degrees and no air conditioning in the summer. That is what we had in the military and if it is good enough for us it is more than good enough for these criminals.

Just one correction lest people think otherwise: there is no air conditioning built into the prisons. They do run big fan ventilation systems, though.

Davis you show a complete lack of knowledge about the Utah Prison system. The Draper facility has NO air-conditioning, so many areas are well over 100 degrees during the summer. During the winter, the inmates are not provided with any heating, so it is freezing cold.

Most of the inmates are limited to Bologna sandwiches for lunch, and dinner. Any extra food or sweets the inmates buy at the commissary. Utah inmates have no cable TV, and aren't living high on the hog.