Just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, Utah prison officials woke up 100 inmates, fed them, put their belongings in a garbage sack and put them on a bus to Texas.
Wednesday morning's transfer of the inmates marks the state's first mass move of prisoners. The arrangement is scheduled to last at least a year but could be longer and is just one of the things Corrections officials are doing to relieve crowded conditions in Utah's prisons."We're still over capacity, even with these 100 (inmates) leaving," said Corrections spokesman Jack Ford. "But we're counting on the pre-release/parole violator center opening next week with 240 beds."
If Utah's prisons operate above capacity for more than 45 consecutive days, administrators are bound by state law to release inmates until prisons are below operational capacity.
The idea to move inmates to Texas was hatched several months ago but ran into some legal snags. After the issues were resolved, officials discovered the move will actually be cheaper than they first thought and cheaper then housing the inmates here.
Dove Development Inc., a private company, finalized a contract with Utah officials at the beginning of the week. The Texas company will take the inmates and feed, house and offer some rehabilitation treatment for $37.70 per day, Ford said.
It costs Utahns an average of $59 per day to house prisoners in Utah facilities, Ford said.
"Our costs have everything figured into them," he said. Officials originally planned to move the inmates using a private airplane but opted instead to use two charter buses and two small vans.
So in the warm night air and by the light of a full moon, the prisoners were marched two-by-two in shackles and orange jumpsuits onto charter buses driven, secured and paid for by Dove Development.
Several inmates resisted when asked to get ready to move but were subdued and moved by prison SWAT officers. Ford said officials painstakingly picked inmates that wouldn't be a management problem, didn't have severe medical problems, had little family support here in Utah and didn't have appeals or parole hearing dates for at least two years.
About 25 inmates volunteered to go, largely, Ford said, because the 260-bed Texas jail still allows smoking, while all Utah facilities are smoke-free.
The drive was expected to take about 24 hours, and Dove officials planned several stops along the way to change security crews. They arrived at the Frio County Jail near San Antonio about 6 a.m. Thursday.