Comments about ‘John Florez: Relocating Utah State Prison is not in public's interest’

Every study done over the last ten years shows the same thing - moving the prison will cost much more than the land is worth. Unfortunately, developers have the ear of legislators (through "donations") and are pushing to get that prison land.

If you can privatize the profits and stick the taxpayer with the cost it is all good.

They need to have an employee of the prison be on the commitee. Have a Captain or a Lieutenant sit on it to educate the comittee members on what it takes to run a prison. Also if your going to force 1000+ employees to move across the state or loose their job, they should have some sort of representation on the comitee.

Since when has the Utah loonislature ever considered what's best for anyone other than their wealthy buddies?

Isn't there a saying that you can either invest in your schools or build prisons?

Gotta serve those developers....

Gunnison already has a large prison. It has a lot of land behind it, and it would be a great place to expand the prison.

I don't think we should relocate the prison anyway. Yes, it's valuable land, but it's not valuable enough to sell and put up a prison somewhere else.

John Florez's analysis of this issue is thorough, and reveals his compassion for taxpayers - not developers who will make a killing if the prison is relocated. Florez lists the personal and fiscal costs of this move, adding complexity to what is essentially a land grab by the realtors in our legislature. Our legislators, who have not provided enough funds for schools to be open for 180 days this coming school year, should adequately fund public schools, before spending 100s of millions in taxpayer dollars to finance new subdivisions - and cause a multitude of problems for hundreds of Utah's workers.

The press needs to stay on top of this story and obtain ALL email which will likely have the fingerprints of legislators and their fat cat buddies on each page. Mansell has been chasing this prize ever since he was one of the chiefs of the crazy group on the hill. The public needs to tune in and watch the games played to the detriment of the public. Tammney Hall is tame compared to the brethren.

Well John, it goes like this. If welfare moms and other tax payers would do at least one of these three things, the Legislature would consider the impact.

1)Contribute massive amounts of money or gifts to campaigns.

2)Be elected to public office.

3)Employ said legislators after they retire from office or family members of legislators while in office.

Any one of these three scenarios would greatly increase the consideration of taxpayers' needs by the committee.

Studies also show that inmates have a lower chance of recidivism when they keep in contact with family and community during their incarceration. Moving the prison out to the middle of nowhere, where it will be much more difficult for people to visit inmates, makes little sense from that perspective.

Whats wrong with making every mother who doesn't work in Utah volunteer? Not just welfare mothers. There are plenty of stay at home moms and plenty of volunteer needs. Mothers who are forced into a position where they need to rely on welfare should not be singled out.

Follow the money.

Utah's bought-and-paid-for legislature represents their donors.

Conflict of interest, thy name is Utah Legislature.