This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Rollin Cook, to his credit, does not want to be remembered as "the moron who said you only need 3,000 beds" when, years hence, Utah looks back at the construction of its new state prison.

But the director of the state Department of Corrections isn't likely to be the one who goofs up Utah's attempts to do with fewer expensive prison beds.

That honor is more likely to fall to his bosses in the Legislature, if they are overly optimistic about how well their plan to stress rehabilitation and treatment over incarceration will work. Or, more importantly, how committed elected officials are to seeing the plan through.

The Legislature's Justice Reinvestment Initiative, adopted almost two years ago, envisions what could prove to be a particularly enlightened approach to criminal justice. And one that, over time, saves money.

The idea is largely a realization that a great many of the people who run afoul of the law are not so much heinous criminals as they are people dealing — poorly — with mental health or substance abuse issues. Steering such folks toward education and treatment rather than expensive prison stays would be both more humane and more cost-effective.

But it won't be free. Treatment, counseling, monitoring and other steps necessary to make the initiative a success also cost money. And, unlike the contracts that will finance the bricks and bars at the new prison, the budget for those services is vulnerable to being slashed by future lawmakers whenever times get tough or some sub-set of politicians sees a chance to gain votes by returning to a tough-on-crime, lock-'em-up approach.

Plus, as Cook pointed out to members of the state's Prison Development Commission the other day, the unending growth in Utah's population may mean that even a successful Justice Reinvestment Initiative won't be enough to avoid the need for an increase in prison capacity.

Cook's observations were a response to some legislative musings about whether the new prison, to be built near Salt Lake International Airport, should include the planned 4,000 beds or whether the state could save an appreciable amount of money by building, say, 3,000.

But so much of the cost flows from the need to develop a now raw piece of ground — everything from roads and utilities to soil stabilization. That means an initial size of 3,000, 4,000 or more beds may not make that much difference either way.

But finding ourselves with a need to expand the facility in, say, 10 years, could be a very big fiscal shock, indeed.

Even though building the larger prison now might be seen as an anticipation of failure, lawmakers should hope for the best but build for the worst.