Prison

Relocation is a Bad Idea

A case to leave the prison where it stands

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Prison Relocation

Its NOT about the inmates

Its NOT about the employees and volunteers
Its NOT about economic development
Its NOT about capacity
Its NOT about age
What IS prison relocation about?

Sources:

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Its NOT about the inmates

Relocating the prison would place it farther from the visitors and families of inmates.
Visitation contributes to a 13% reduction in felony reconvictions.1
None of the prison studies include new expenditures to expand or create new recidivism
programs. These programs give a 6 to 1 return on the initial investment.2
Building the most modern and up to date facility does nothing to reduce recidivism. New
prisons have been constructed in several states with no eect on recidivism.3 We must
separate the value of the building from the successful rehabilitation of its inmates.
Relocating the prison would place it farther from medical care, mental health care and
courtroom facilities. Currently 20% of the existing inmate population4 is required to be
housed at Draper due to proximity of acute healthcare facilities.
By moving the prison to a more remote location, inmates and sta would suer from
inadequate EMS response times, thus increasing reliance on far more expensive
ambulatory services such as Life Flight.
The current prison medical sta strongly believe the prison should be located within the
Wasatch Valley in order to attract, recruit, hire, and retain necessary medical sta.5

Sources:
1.
http://www.doc.state.mn.us/pages/les/large-les/Publications/11-11MNPrisonVisitationStudy.pdf
2.
http://www.schools.utah.gov/adulted/DOCS/Corrections/TheBenetsofCorrectionsEducation.aspx
3.
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/ARB_FY_0607_Recidivism_Report_(11-23-11).pdf
4.
2014 MGT Prison Study, pg. 45
5.
2014 MGT Prison Study, pg. 46

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Its NOT about the employees or volunteers

Relocating the prison has the potential to displace up to 1,000 employees, many
of which are tenured and experienced. The cost of attracting and training new
employees is not factored into the current projected cost estimates.
Relocating the prison has the potential to displace over 1,100 volunteers1, 90%
of whom reside along the Wasatch Front.
Volunteers are critical to the well being and rehabilitation of the inmates. They
provide prison programming,2 religious matters,3 and continued education.
Relocating would bring new posts and training requirements for both current
and new employees. This would require additional funding to cover both
training and overtime expenses.
The current central placement of the prison attracts employees from multiple
counties. If moved, many employees may nd the increased commute time
and expense to be too much.
Sources:
1.
2.
3.

http://corrections.utah.gov/index.php/services/volunteers.html, http://lwvutah.org/Studies/PrisonStudy1-13-2014.pdf pg. 13, MGT Prison Relocation

Study, pg. 81
http://bit.ly/1tUqHbN
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865585499/Prison-volunteers-want-Draper-facility-to-stay-put-as-beacon-of-hope.html?pg=all

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Its NOT about economic development

The current site is not inhibiting economic development of Draper - as of January 2015,
over 3 million square feet1 of commercial real estate is available for lease within Draper.
Additional land is also available for development.
No proof / guarantee has been supplied to support economic development projections
no letters of intent exist to support business development with stipulation of
development at the current prison site.
With past and current business development trends in Utah, the same business growth
can be expected to continue and in turn increased tax revenue will be collected. The
sheer amount of competing land available for development that currently surrounds the
existing prison site will attract the very same businesses.
Job projections are hypothetical with no account for cannibalization ( jobs moved from
one location to another). Projections for job growth were performed by property
development and consulting rms,2 located outside of the state no local economic
study performed by an accredited institution has been conducted.
The property tax benets realized by Draper city from relocation of the prison would be
taken away from the community it is forced upon.

Sources:
1.
2.

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Search/SearchResults.aspx#/Draper,UT/All-Types/For-Lease/c!ARYC$BAQ
2014 MGT Prison Relocation Study, pg. 102

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Its NOT about capacity

Current UDC prison system has the ability to house 300 inmates1 before reaching
maximum capacity. An additional 400 inmates qualify for placement within county
jails.2a
97% of the forecasted growth could be avoided through adopted reforms.3
Inmate population decreased by 0.7%1 from 2013 to 2014. Population of inmates by
state population has been at from 1990-2009.4
Inmate populations could be reduced by anywhere from 4-18% immediately,
following changes to the classications of drug possession from a felony to a Class-A
misdemeanor in 2015 legislative session.5
The MGT study recommended the Central Utah Correctional Facility expansion as
opposed to the Utah State Prison.2b

Sources:
1.
https://crbiprod.utah.gov/cognos10/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi?b_action=xts.run&m=portal/cc.xts&gohome=
2.
a. 2014 MGT Prison Relocation study. Pg. 62, b. 2014 MGT Prison Relocation study. Pg. 76
3.
cityweekly.net/TheDailyFeed/archives/2014/10/22/utahs-prison-population-to-increase-by-37-percent-in-20-years-without-immediate-reforms
4.
http://lwvutah.org/Studies/PrisonStudy1-13-2014.pdf
5.
http://fox13now.com/2014/10/22/drug-possession-could-drop-from-felony-to-misdemeanor-under-utah-law-changes/

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Its NOT about age

Many of Utahs public schools are older than the current prison facilities,
such as West High School1 which was built in 1890.
The average age of existing prison facilities is only 33 years.2
While renovation is needed with certain facilities, it is not prudent to discard
the whole of the facility especially considering that a number of
improvements have not reached their intended ROI yet, such as the
geothermal aquifer.3
While modernization may help reduce the number of employees needed
from the current 4 to 1 inmate to employee ratio2, it would also negate
advertised future job growth to the chosen hosting community.

Sources:
1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_High_School_%28Utah%29
2.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865574057/Inside-Utah-State-Prison-Should-it-stay-or-should-it-go.html?pg=all
3.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595077054/Prison-taps-geothermal-aquifer.html?pg=all
4.
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf, pg. 22

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What IS prison relocation about?

There are many reasons that relocation is a bad idea. Its not about: inmates,
employees, volunteers, economic development, capacity, or age. So what is it
about?



Some additional websites to research in helping you make up your mind:

pointwestventures.com
publicdevelopmentpartners.com
cwmcorp.com
mansellrealestate.com
wasatchgroup.com
followthemoney.org

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Alternatives to relocation

Using the criteria of relocation established and approved by the Prison Relocation
Commission, the current location of the prison is the most suitable site.
There are many plausible ideas that should be considered before any relocation scenarios are
carried forward at such a great expense to taxpayers.
In all scenarios we concur with MGTs recommendation that expansion should occur at Central
Utah Correctional Facility (Gunnison), which is a modern facility master-planned to
accommodate additional buildings.
General benets that apply to leaving the prison where it is:
Cost dierential / cost avoidance between renovation and relocation could be used to
fund new schools or other critical infrastructure projects
Repayment of grants totaling around $4.5 million would not be needed1
No costs needed to introduce new water/sewer/electricity infrastructure (nearing $30-40
million estimated at other proposed undeveloped sites)2
No expenses required to secure rights to or purchase new land
100% retention of current employee and volunteer base
Transportation cost avoidance of up to 30%3 (savings dependent on site selected)

Sources:
1.
2.
3.

2014 MGT Prison Relocation Study, pg. 175

MGT presentation to PRC, December 22nd. http://le.utah.gov/interim/2014/pdf/00005659.pdf
2009 Wikstrom Prison Study, pg. 8

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Scenario #1 Rebuild Wasatch housing facility only

The Wasatch housing facility is currently one
of the oldest buildings within the prison site
and most in need of repair. With this
scenario, only the Wasatch facility would be
rebuilt at a to be determined cost.

The primary benet of this scenario is that it
is the most cost eective approach,
addresses the immediate maintenance/
renovation needs, and allows time for a more
sucient analysis of prison needs and
validation of economic benets from
vacating the property. This scenario could be
viewed as procrastination but considering the
great expense at stake, it is worth investing
the time to consider a decision that will
outlive us.

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Scenario #2 Rebuild on existing site

In this scenario, a new prison would be built on the
existing site, directly adjacent the existing prison.
The primary benet of this scenario is that the
state does not need to invest in purchasing land
nor infrastructure improvements (a savings of at
least $30-40 million estimated at other sites).

Other benets of this scenario include 100%
retention of employees and volunteers and
greater cost control by leveraging existing
structures where possible. Where it is feasible, the
state should leverage prison labor and promote an
equitable and competitive bidding process to
minimize tax payer expenses.

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Scenario #3 Split the Property

In this scenario, the current prison site would be split
into two parcels approximating 340 acres each.

The North parcel would be leased by the state for
commercial real estate development with no
concessions to maximize taxpayer benet. Sale of the
property should be evaluated if the proceeds would
exceed the expected revenue of leasing the property
over 50 years. The 340 acre size is equivalent to the
size of the non-residential combined total of
commercial, retail and transit hub parcel proposals put
forth by Silicon Slopes / Draper City ocials and the
2014 study performed by MGT.

The South parcel contains the largest portion of the
existing prison and the remaining land would be used
to rebuild aging facilities. More modern construction
techniques (high rise or similar) would be used to
accommodate the smaller footprint.

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