The Utah State Prison will soon be overrun by prisoners. Although we are below the nation's average in criminal activity, our crime rate is increasing at an alarming rate. If we do not act now by building a new and better prison, our current facilities might just prove how inadequate they really are. Also, by building a new prison we will be improving two very important things - the welfare of the prisoners and the growing population of the Wasatch Front. We need to move the prison.
Utah's prison is terrible. First of all, Utah's current prison facilities are not functional for our growing criminal population. If Utah continues at its rate of criminal growth, the number of inmates is estimated to grow 37% in the next twenty years. The current Gunnison, Draper, and 22 County facilities do not have the space to hold more than 7,000 people, but at this rate we will have over 10,000 prisoners by 2033. If we were to just expand our current buildings it would cost more than $700,000,000, not to mention the already degrading facilities we currently occupy. Some of the buildings were built in the 1950's and do not even have heating, ventilation, or air conditioning. Building a new prison is the better choice and is estimated to cost a little under $1,000,000,000 which is not that far off from the $700,000,000it would cost to expand our current facilities. Though it might cost more, the facilities would be updated and upgraded. The new infrastructure would be safer, more than ten thousand inmates would be taken care of, and safety precautions would be improved on. Hence, we need to move the prison to a newer facility so that we can be safer and the prisoners can be taken care of adequately.
Many people understand that prisons are necessary, but much like sewage plants they would rather keep them out of sight regardless of their importance or the fellow people inside them. The citizens in these prisons, despite our reluctance to admit, are a part of us.