Utah Pushes for Additional $130 Million to Expand Prison that Cost $1 Billion
In 2022, when Utah opened a new prison, the Utah State Correctional Facility, it was the largest construction project in the state’s history and cost more than $1 billion to build. Now, lawmakers are asking for an additional $130 million to increase the prison’s capacity. If approved, the funding would pay for 768 new prison beds, which the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, a Republican, claims are necessary to keep up with the state’s population growth.
But advocates point out that spending more than one hundred million on beds alone would come at the expense of improving conditions for the people who are currently incarcerated in the state. The proposal arrives during a tight budget year in which the state Department of Corrections (DOC) will likely face a 5% budget cut. For Molly Prince, the co-founder of the Utah Prisoner Advocate Network, adding beds will deprioritize improving prison healthcare and access to therapists and mental health support, as well as increased programming. “If the state, if the governor, is asking for these cuts across the board,” Prince told The Salt Lake Tribune, “then how are they going to care for the people that they want to build more prisons for?”
While the bid for more beds is being justified by increased population growth, the state legislature itself has for years bolstered incarceration rates by expanding criminal penalties. In a three year timespan from 2023 to 2025, Utah lawmakers passed a total of 113 bills that increase, expand, or create new criminal offenses, according to an analysis by the Utah Defense Attorney Association.
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
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