By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY — A committee tasked by lawmakers with determining the economic feasibility of relocating the Utah State Prison pulled an emergency brake Wednesday as it voted to withdraw requests for proposals for the project while it gathers more information about what the state’s correctional system should look like in the future.
The Prison Relocation and Development Authority unanimously agreed to slow the process after hearing from the executive director of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ), who requested the bid solicitations be withdrawn, and from a consultant it has hired to assess current and future needs of the Utah Department of Corrections.
Inmates in a dorm for older inmates at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah Wednesday, August 8, 2012.Lionel Nance, 82, sits in his bunk in the ADA unit at the Lone Peak Prison facility in Draper, Utah on July 26, 2012. The prison has created a separate unit with in the prison to provide care for geriatric prisoners.Inmates head back to their cells as he latest phase of expansion of a new wing at the Gunnison Prison is nearing completion with the use of state-allocated funds.
The decision also had support of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, who had not signed off on three unofficial bid solicitations the committee posted nearly three weeks ago on the state Division of Facilities Construction and Management website. A timeline proposed by PRADA called for bids to be submitted by Dec. 2; it planned to forward a recommendation to the governor and Legislature by Jan. 31, four days after the start of the 2014 session.
Full story: Effort to possibly relocate Utah’s prison hits a speed bump