The price of a good dinner for two. That's how much it is going to cost the state on a daily basis to house each of its prisoners in county jails, instead of state's beds.
For $43.07 a day, the state Department of Corrections would be able to continue sending 900 of its inmates into the far reaches of the state -- from Washington County in the southern to Cache County in the north.Corrections' executive director Pete Haun told lawmakers Wednesday his department and the Utah Sheriffs Association had agreed on a "core" price for the daily housing of state prisoners outside prison. An audit performed last year on the department concluded many of the costs associated with putting state inmates in county jails weren't properly documented.
In the last legislative session, legislators passed a law requiring the department to establish a single rate it would pay to house its inmates in the county jails.
In part, the new rate represents an increase for the department because it had been paying $38 a day to counties to incarcerate its inmates who had been sentenced to prison by the courts. However, it also had been paying $52.50 a day for those inmates convicted of a felony but sentenced to do their time in jail rather than prison.
For Haun, the new rate is a happy medium for the program. The department needs an additional $7.1 million in the next budget year to continue it. Corrections officials anticipate there will be more of its inmates housed in county jails because of a growing felony population and a growing inmate population.
Haun figures that housing state inmates in the jails is saving the state has much as $35 million in construction costs for new buildings that would be needed to place those inmates with the regular prison population.
Across the state, 16 percent of the state's inmates participate in a variety of programs through their residency at the county jails, including building houses, working in community service projects and telemarketing.
Haun cited a recent tanker spill of crude oil that threatened to contaminate Flaming Gorge. The jail's inmate crew was first on the scene to clean up the mess, saving an estimated $100,000.
"These people are giving back to the community, but more importantly, the community is receiving a benefit," he said.
The jail program has been such a success, Haun said, and other states, including Idaho, are interested in adopting similar programs.