The Department of Corrections wants to open a new 300-inmate Parole Violator Center near downtown Salt Lake City in April.
But not so fast.
Salt Lake City officials are criticizing the proposed location, and the Legislature just yanked nearly $6 million from the plan, in part due to snags in cooperating with the city.
Corrections officials say the move would free up space at the prison and get minor parole violators treated and back with their jobs and families faster.
Cliff Butter, director of planning and research for Corrections, said a typical parole offender currently spends nine to 10 months behind bars on a typical violation, but with a new center offering intensive treatment, he said, they could be back on the streets in 45 to 60 days.
Corrections spokeswoman Angie Welling said the center would be a secure facility tailored to specific needs of offenders. Some would be on a work release program, some would have curfews allowing them to search for jobs in the day and some might constantly be locked inside the center.
"This would allow [parolees] a bit of a tuneup if their only problem is substance abuse or something minor," Welling said.
Corrections and the private developer it is teaming with - Community Education Centers (CEC) - picked Salt Lake City, reasoning the center would work best along the Wasatch Front near most inmates' homes and jobs.
But at its recent budget-trimming emergency session - which saw the Legislature pull back $11 million it had originally planned to give the Department of Corrections - lawmakers wiped away $5.733 million originally earmarked for the Parole Violator Center.
That's mainly because of the snag with Salt Lake City officials, who issued a six-month moratorium on halfway homes in August, meaning the center never could have opened on time anyway.
"Our intent was to have the facility a lot closer to being open at this point, and that hasn't happened," said Welling. "We had agreed [with CEC to build it] and were moving forward with the licensing process. The municipality did not like that."
Some in the city government don't want the facility in their downtown-adjacent community just east of Interstate 15 near 500 West and 900 South.
Salt Lake City Councilman Van Turner said while the 500 West 900 South area is industrial, there are houses in close proximity. He said that area of Salt Lake City might be better suited for redevelopment projects that could include Salt Lake City's new streetcar proposal - a plan that would bring in a buslike system of streetcars that charge a fare and stop on each city block.
"[Corrections] is just thinking about their portion - about what they do," Turner said. "We're thinking, 'How do we redevelop the whole area?' And I don't think we'd want to have something like this detract from the area."
Officials launched the pre-emptive moratorium, lasting until February, so they could look at areas that might better suit the facility. The city currently issues permits on a case-by-case basis for halfway houses, but the city is used to seeing smaller buildings serving a dozen patients, not a 300-inmate secured prisonlike facility.
"Our existing ordinance never anticipated anything of this size. This is cutting-edge stuff," said City Councilwoman Jill Remington-Love, adding that the proposed building felt like a prison.
Head of the city's planning department, Will Sommerkorn, said the city might adopt different zones that would designate where halfway houses of varying intensities could be located.
Sommerkorn said the city staff is studying how a massive population increase in the area would affect traffic and security, among other issues. But he said the planning department will not recommend that the City Council shut out the center altogether.
"From the staff's standpoint, there need to be places for this kind of use, and there probably are appropriate places in Salt Lake City for them," Sommerkorn said. "We're not saying, 'Nowhere in Salt Lake.' "
Meanwhile, CEC spokesman Bill Palatucci said he and Corrections are maintaining their focus on Salt Lake City.
Though the Legislature cut $5.7 million - a pro-rated amount based on the delays - from this year's funding, Corrections had already received $7.6 million in ongoing state funds for the center.
Said Welling: "We've counted on the 300 beds to relieve bed space at the prisons. If that doesn't happen, we will have to re-evaluate and perhaps build more prison space."
sgehrke@sltrib.com
Prisoner count
6,492 prisoners in Utah's Corrections system
3,769 inmates housed in Draper
1,371 inmates housed in
Gunnison
1,256 inmates contracted out to be housed in county jails
96 inmates in federal prisons or other states
3,889 on parole
The Parole Violation Center
* Initially had been planned to open in April
* Would house 300 inmates
* Would be a secured facility
* Would have programming to target specific problems, such as alcohol abuse and teaching trades
* Would cycle inmates through its doors in a 45-to-60-day period, as opposed to 10 months at the prison
* Would take 9 to 12 months to build after all approvals are granted
Corrections funding cuts
The department as a whole lost about $11 million in a session that saw $350 million cut from the entire state budget.
Corrections lost $5.7 million that had been set aside for the 300-bed Parole Violator Center.
Corrections had already received $7.6 million for the center.
The center's operating costs would be assumed by CEC, but Corrections would cover $69 per day for each inmate housed there, as well as provide two full-time employees to oversee operations.
Corrections lost another $5.1 million in other funding.
Corrections could lose almost 40 full-time administration positions, which they had been trying to fill.
Corrections would have to scale back its sex-offender, substance-abuse and mental-health programs.
