Utah Officials Debate Building Smaller State Prison

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — State officials say they want to explore whether a new prison being built near Salt Lake City can hold 1,000 fewer inmates due to criminal justice reforms.

Republican Rep. Brad Wilson of Kaysville, who co-chairs the Prison Development Commission, said this week that as officials have tried to shorten sentences for nonviolent crimes and the prison population has dipped, that Utah might not need a 4,000 bed-facility.

Utah Department of Corrections executive director Rollin Cook warned that though statewide prison population has dropped by since justice reform laws were passed, some inmates may re-offend and the population could rise.

Layton Republican Sen. Jerry Stevenson, the other commission co-chair, says he thinks the new prison near Salt Lake City's airport will be built to hold 4,000 people.

The project is expected to be completed by 2020.