Inadequate oversight led to five escapes in four years from county jails, according to Legislative audit report
By Steve Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY — Last September’s Daggett County jail break is just one of five inmate escapes that might have been prevented, had the Department of Corrections properly managed a prison-sharing contract with county jails.
That’s according to a new legislative audit that lambastes Corrections for, among other things, learning of security problems at the Daggett County Jail in 2000, but failing to correct them for seven years.
During that time, five inmates escaped the jail - three in 2004 and two in a 2007 incident where two convicted murderers walked out of an unlocked door, climbed an unalarmed fence and went missing for five hours before anyone realized they were gone.
Those two men were captured by Wyoming authorities after six days on the lam, but not before they bound a man with duct tape at knife point and stole his vehicle.
Lawmakers on Wednesday morning heard an overview of the 60-page report, which ultimately recommends Corrections repair their broken contract system, which sends state prisoners into county jails.
The report specifies five separate jail breaks and three major operational issues over the past four years, which includes an August 2007 Garfield County case in which an inmate convicted of manslaughter escaped by climbing into the storage bins of a school bus that was being washed at the jail.
No action has been taken by Corrections officials to address the improper search and supervision issues at the Garfield jail that led to the escape, according to the audit.
The legislative audit quotes a Department of Corrections internal audit that acknowledges, “It appears poor contract standards and deficient oversight have become the accepted norm for doing business.”
Additionally, before three separate jail escapes in late 2007, Corrections had no standards regarding which inmates were eligible for the county jail program.
Now, first-degree felons are ineligible for the jail sharing program, as well as inmates who have attempted an escape in the last five years and those who have been convicted of a loss-of-life crime.
Though language in the audit directly and unmistakably blames the Corrections contract process, said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, who defended the state, noting that jail operations are local government functions. He questioned whether counties would appreciate state officials showing up and telling them how to run their jails.
“Do we need to change the statutes and tell counties how to operate their jails?” Curtis asked auditors.
One auditor responded that the state could use contractual requirements to boost security at county jails. He said counties do not have to participate in the state’s prisoner-share program, and eight counties - including Salt Lake and Utah - are not part of the program.
But Curtis said that if the state were to pull its prisoners from Beaver County, where 370 of 400 beds are occupied by state prisoners, it could bankrupt the county jail.
“We would have to step in and either run or buy that facility,” Curtis said.
Executive Director of Corrections Tom Patterson lauded the audit and said Corrections officials have been working to change many of the highlighted issues since he was appointed in January 2007. But he said the state can cooperate with county governments without any statutory changes.
“We’re all shooting for the same goal,” Patterson said. “Jointly, we can set minimum standards that could meet our expectations.”
Patterson said all the negative points brought to light in the report are indicative of transition, and he added that the audit indicates many of the existing problems were inherited by the current administration.
As far as specific contractual fixes, the report calls on Corrections to implement performance measures and establish a grading criteria for county facilities. It also encourages better monitoring of county compliance and improved follow-up and enforcement strategies.
A Corrections news release on Wednesday said the department agrees with every recommendation in the audit, and officials expect to complete the majority of the fixes before many of its contracts with various counties expire in 2009.
Copyright 2008 The Salt Lake Tribune