County Council Tables Oxbow Jail Proposal

Aug 06, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) A proposal to repair and reopen Oxbow jail remains on the table and will appear, again, on the Salt Lake County Council agenda next week. The issue took nearly an hour of the council's time Wednesday, and sparked heated remarks between Council Chairman Michael Jensen and Councilman Joe Hatch.

"So to say that this council hasn't done anything in two years, or that the Republicans on this council didn't step up in November is wrong, it's erroneous, that's not the case," Jensen says.

Hatch responds, saying, "I did not at one point in this speech make that partisan. You're the one who went out ... I said the council, the council did that."

A proposal to prepare the shuttered Oxbow jail facility for overflow inmates failed last fall in a vote that split along party lines. Interest in the proposal was renewed last month when the county's corrections chief, Rollin Cook, sent an e-mail to the council explaining overcrowding at the jail was so bad his staff was forced to release inmates convicted of more serious crimes than he had in the past. However, Councilman Randy Horiuchi says those given early releases were just "garden-variety" criminals, similar to the offenders released between 1991 and 1998 to satisfy a federal consent decree on the main county jail. However, Horiuchi says he still supports reopening Oxbow.

"There are better reasons to open Oxbow than were even revealed here today that I'll reveal next week," Horiuchi says. "But I will tell you that this garden variety kick-outs is what we saw for eight years, and we were able to manage them in that consent decree, and during that period of time, quite frankly, save millions of dollars to the residents of Salt Lake County. Now that's something to think about."

Also during the meeting, Councilman Mark Crockett made a motion to ask one of the county council's staff to review the numbers submitted by the corrections bureau. The motion failed after several council members expressed concern that the review was not necessary and could complicate what will likely be a prolonged debate.

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