It’s definite. The Utah State Prison in Draper will be moved — somewhere.
Tooele County has not been eliminated as a possible location, but neither has the county been put on the list of potential sites. No list of potential prison sites under consideration exists.
The commission charged by the Utah State Legislature with recommending the where, when and how of relocating the state’s largest corrections facility, spent over two hours on June 19 listening to reports about working group organizations, site criteria and prison programs.
“We didn’t hear anything about the economic impact of a prison on a community,” said Randy Sant, economic development consultant for Tooele City and Tooele County, who attended the meeting of the Prison Relocation Commission held at the state Capitol.
“That’s what communities need to know: How would a prison impact their economy, both the costs and the benefits,” he said.
Tooele County has been rumored as a likely site for a new prison since 2012 when a prison relocation committee visited a potential site in Rush Valley as part of its study process.
During the 2014 legislative session, Rep. Doug Sagers, R-Tooele, said a plot of land owned by the state’s School and Institutional Trust Land Administration near the Interstate 80 exit 84, west of Grantsville, was being eyed by state officials as a possible prison location.
“From what I have heard, there is about a 95 percent chance that Tooele County will be put on the top of the list for the new prison,” Sagers told a breakfast gathering of Tooele County local elected officials in February 2014.
The legislature in 2014 approved a resolution calling for the state prison to be moved and passed legislation that created a new commission to recommend a site or sites for a new prison.
At the June 19 meeting, prison relocation commission members heard recommendations for criteria to evaluate a new site from legislative staff, a corrections consultant hired by the commission, and the director of the Utah Department of Corrections.
While the exact size and configuration of the new prison facility will depend on future decisions about programs for prisoners and efforts to reduce recidivism, the speakers presented a general picture of the requirements for a new prison location.
Those requirements include proximity to corrections staff and volunteers, both of which primarily come from southern Salt Lake and northern Utah counties, according to Rollin Cook, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections.
The prison must also be located near comprehensive medical facilities. The state currently contracts with the University of Utah Hospital for these services. A location near a major highway is needed to provide ready access to the medical facilities as well as quick and economical transport for courts, employees, inmate families, and service providers, Cook said.
The new facilities should be designed with new inmate programming and criminal justice reforms in mind. Rural locations make it difficult to find qualified applicants to fill all the positions necessary to operate an effective modern correctional facility, according to Cook.
The prison needs to be compatible with surrounding land uses, have support from the community, and avoid any potential hazards. It also needs access to needed infrastructure such as water, waste water treatment, electrical power, gas, and telecommunications, according to Bob Nardi, from the team of corrections experts assembled by MGT of America.MGT is a Tallahassee, Florida-based criminal justice and public safety consulting firm. It was hired by the previous prison relocation committee and retained by the current commission.
“I think the sites in Tooele County near I-80 previously discussed fit the criteria,” said Sant. “The question is what will the impact be on the community.”
Tooele County’s elected officials are not ready to start courting the new prison.
“We’ve still got a lot of unanswered questions,” said Brent Marshall, mayor of Grantsville, while discussing the prison relocation at the June 19 Tooele County Council of Governments meeting.
Marshall and other COG members want more information about the impact the prison will have on local law enforcement, court costs, adult education programs, social services, community programs, and infrastructure.
COG members selected Marshall to head a subcommittee along with Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy, and County Commissioners Jerry Hurst and Shawn Milne, to investigate the impact of locating a state prison in Tooele County.
The prison relocation committee, established by the legislature in 2012, approved the idea of moving the prison based on its finding that over the course of 25 years the economic development of the former prison site could put $20 billion into the Utah economy and create 40,000 jobs.
In 2013 the state legislature created the Prison Relocation and Development Agency, which hired MGT of America to prepare a study on prison relocation.
MGT’s report estimated that local and state revenues associated with developing the current prison site, once the prison is relocated, could be $94.6 million annually. The total economic benefit to the state would be $1.8 billion annually, according to MGT’s report.
The timetable for site identification and selection for the current prison relocation commission calls for a final recommendation to be ready by December 15.
“The commission is going to put together information and ask for proposals for a new prison,” said Sant. “I can easily see a private developer or maybe even SITLA making a proposal that may include property in Tooele County.”