It’s easy to appreciate the impact that our police officers have on public safety. We see them almost every day — patrolling our streets, supporting our schools and responding to requests for help. I strongly believe that accountability is critical to our criminal justice system. People who commit serious crimes should serve prison time. But there’s another side to public safety that’s less visible but just as essential. Corrections officers in our prisons, county jails and community correctional centers work out of the spotlight day in and day out playing an unheralded but essential role in keeping our communities safe.
This summer marked the second anniversary of the opening of the new Utah State Correctional Facility. Relocating the state prison from the aging facility in Draper was an important decision for the state’s long-term growth and economic prosperity. However, changes of that magnitude are never seamless. The first year in the new state prison was marked by challenges, including operating a new facility design and supervision model.
Staffing shortages proved to be the most pronounced challenge in the new facility. The Utah Department of Corrections has periodically struggled to attract and retain staff, and the prison relocation exacerbated a preexisting shortage of correctional officers. In July 2022, the new state prison opened with just 401 correctional officers, sergeants and control point operators on staff and in the academy — not enough to run the facility on even a minimum staffing pattern. The shortages necessitated mandatory overtime shifts, put tremendous strain on frontline officers and exposed both officers and inmates to greater safety risks.
Fortunately, over the last year and a half, the department has successfully rebounded from its earlier struggles. Recognizing that staffing shortages were undermining safety, the Legislature funded targeted salary increases for correctional officers in 2022, 2023 and again in 2024 — and hiring has rebounded dramatically. The Utah State Correctional Facility is now up to 611 certified staff and control point operators — a 52% increase. That staffing surge has made real impacts on operational security. Overtime shifts have now moved from mandatory to voluntary. Safety incidents are down.
The culture at the state correctional facility is changing too — among both staff and inmates. Executive Director Brian Redd, who took over the department in May 2023, has made a concerted effort to solicit and incorporate input from all stakeholders — frontline staff, advocacy organizations and even inmates themselves — to improve prison operations. Communication has been more open and transparent. Staff morale is improving.
The Department has also sharpened its focus on helping offenders prepare to successfully reintegrate in our communities. The reality is that nearly every inmate who enters the custody of the Department of Corrections is going to reenter society at some point. And with new changes, preparing for reentry starts on the first day an inmate walks in the door.
With support from the Legislature, the Department has established a new division focused on reentry and rehabilitation. Recognizing the role that addiction recovery plays in helping inmates succeed, the Department has stepped up its efforts to stop the flow of drugs entering the facility. Working together, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health and Human Services are improving the quality and consistency of medical care for offenders. These efforts will help more inmates get clean and stay clean, reducing the likelihood that they’ll commit crimes again upon release.
In February, the Department launched the SOLID program, an exclusive inmate-led peer support program in which offenders help each other change mindsets, habits and behavior. The program gathers together the inmates who are striving to change into a single housing unit. The standards for getting into the program are high. Once within the unit, inmates are offered greater levels of autonomy and self-determination in a place where both are in short supply. Inmates help each other stay in line — not through threats of violence or gang-imposed order, but through example and dialogue. This program has reduced inmate violence, with peer leaders intervening to deescalate many disagreements that otherwise might have led to violence. Corrections officers maintain overall security, but giving space to inmates who demonstrate they want to change is helping them build the skills they’ll need to successfully run their lives outside the prison walls.
There’s still lots of work to do. With so many new corrections officers joining the department, training and mentorship will take on greater importance. As will institutionalizing the policies and culture that undergird the progress made in the last 18 months. As we continue to identify and implement additional strategies to make the state correctional system more effective at rehabilitating offenders and reducing recidivism, let’s also take a moment to recognize the hard work that our corrections officers put in every day on our behalf. Operations at the new state prison have never been better, and we’re all safer for it.
Rep. Karianne Lisonbee is the House Majority Whip and represents House District 14 in the Utah House of Representatives.