I am glad that the prison relocation matter is soon to be resolved. To be fair to the relocation commission, they have only been doing what the Legislature assigned them to do, and at least rebuilding on the current location has been considered.
My guess is that had the prison been located out in some remote spot in the state, in its current condition, there would have been no major effort to move or improve it. The legislators would have said, "We have better places to spend the money, such as public education, roads, law enforcement, etc."
But most everyone who has followed the discussion knows that improving the facility has never been the main reason for the move. The subject would not even have come up had someone not looked at the current site and said, “Boy, that is sure prime land for development.” Once that had been noticed, we started getting all of the “good” reasons: economic development, prison facility improvement, etc. Then the main purpose of the move became to improve the facility, to make it a better place to reform societal maladjusted people.
But most of the reasons supporting the move seem to have equal or stronger reasons to leave it where it is. It appears to me that with all of the public opposition to moving the prison, if the final decision by the Legislature is to move the prison, we will be witnessing a Legislature more interested in ruling our state than representing the will of the people.
Fred Ash
Sandy