Work has begun on an interlocal agreement between Utah County and Salt Lake County to possibly house up to 100 sentenced male felons at the new jail in Spanish Fork.
Hoping for a temporary solution to jail overcrowding, the Salt Lake County Commission last week directed its staff to prepare the agreement, which is expected to cost about $1.9 million per year.The agreement, which hinges on available funding during budget negotiations beginning in November, would allow Salt Lake County to house prisoners at the new Utah County Security Center after it opens early next year.
Kerry D. Steadman, director of the Salt Lake County Human Services Department, described the proposed compact as a temporary arrangement until Salt Lake County's new facility is completed in late 1998. Utah County has also indicated it will only have available space for Salt Lake County prisoners for about two years at most.
The commission directed Steadman to prepare an agreement to house only sentenced offenders in Utah County, which would save as much as $300,000 in transportation costs for court appearances. Another cost issue the commission will have to grapple with is how much legal defense costs might increase if an additional 100 prisoners are added to the jail system.
Steadman told the commission it would cost $53.60 per day to house the prisoners in Utah County, and it is possible that maybe even more than 100 beds might be available for Salt Lake County's use during the Utah County jail's first year of operation. Capacity of the Spanish Fork jail is expected to be 544.
Salt Lake County has been under a court order since 1991 not to overload its downtown jail facility. Capacity at the Salt Lake County Jail is 700 inmates.
Although construction of the Utah County jail will be finished in January, it won't be ready to accept Salt Lake County prisoners until April 1997 because it will take officials 90 days to prepare the new facility.