DRAPER, Utah, June 10, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Department of Corrections is moving inmates out of two facilities and into other units at the Utah State Prison due to a shortage of corrections officers.
The UDOC says inmates in the Lone Peak minimum-security housing facility and a building at the Timpanogos Women’s Correctional Facility will transition over the next several months.
The 204 inmates housed in the 300-bed Lone Peak Facility will be moved to the Wasatch Facility and the 35 inmates housed in the 143-bed Timpanogos Building 2 will be moved to open beds in other housing units. Some could possibility be moved to county jails as part of the prison’s Inmate Placement Program.
Similar action was taken last fall when 231 beds in the Wasatch C and Wasatch B North blocks were shuttered. Inmates in those areas were relocated to other housing facilities at the prison and to the Central Utah Correctional Facility and county jails.
The Department said they are taking this action as it continues to manage a shortage of correctional officers that has required mandatory overtime, taking a toll on staff and contributing to burnout.
The Department currently has 142 correctional officer vacancies – 95 at the Utah State Prison and 47 at the Central Utah Correctional Facility.
The projected overtime need is expected to average about 5,500 hours during July and August and the closing of these two buildings will almost cut the required overtime by 50 percent.
Another factor in the ability to close some buildings is a steady decline in the inmate population.
