By Pat Reavy and Ben Winslow
The Deseret Morning News
DAGGETT COUNTY, Utah — The Utah Department of Corrections removed all 45 remaining state inmates from the Daggett County Jail Wednesday evening after two convicted killers managed to escape from the rural Utah facility.
The decision led to the inmates’ placement in the Draper and Gunnison state prisons and was the result of security and management concerns associated with the Daggett County Jail, said corrections’ executive director Tom Patterson.
“Because security concerns related to this facility and its management remain presently unresolved, it is prudent to withdraw all state inmates from the Daggett County Jail in the interest of public safety. It is our hope that concerns regarding security oversight, jail procedures and facility inadequacies will be fully addressed quickly,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday, 20 inmates were pulled out of the jail. Corrections officials had said they were in a building that could not be secured.
Some of the inmates will be placed in the Draper and Gunnison facilities only temporarily and may be shipped out to other county jails once space becomes available, Patterson said.
The Daggett County Jail has been under intense scrutiny since convicted killers Juan Diaz-Arevalo and Danny Gallegos escaped after going through a broken door and over a razor-wire fence. There was only one deputy on duty that night to watch over all the inmates, and he was sick.
Gallegos and Diaz-Arevalo hid in the mountains for nearly a week before tying up an elderly man in his trailer and stealing his car. The 79-year-old retired Salt Lake police officer was able to quickly escape, however, flag down help and call 911.
A chase that went from approximately Green River, Wyo., to Rock Springs ended with Gallegos being shot by police in the stomach. He was taken to University Hospital in Salt Lake City in critical condition.
The Department of Corrections was paying Daggett County $42 a day, per inmate, to house 77 inmates prior to the escape. It’s money the county will no longer get.
“It’s a big impact on the community, and we’re sympathetic to that,” Patterson said. “We will work with them to get that back on track.”
But he noted money comes second to public safety.
Patterson said Daggett County officials have expressed they are willing to meet with corrections officials sometime over the next few days to begin talking about how to fix their jail problem.
“I think it looks promising. They are coming to the table in good faith,” he said.
It’s not just the facilities that need improving, Patterson said. The training of deputies and management also needs to be improved.
“We need to make sure we have proper focus,” he said.
The prison is even willing to send some of its staff to Daggett County for a while to assist and monitor their efforts, Patterson said. If the county is willing to cooperate, he said it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think some inmates might be housed in Daggett County again before the end of the year.
“It would not be beyond our focus, if that’s what the county would like to do,” he said.
Copyright 2007 Deseret Morning News