After years of operating under standards that were kept secret from the public by the private contractor who wrote them, Utah’s prison boss and sheriffs announced Friday the state would rewrite hundreds of guidelines most jails follow and make them public for the first time.
The Utah Department of Corrections will also develop new standards over the policies that guide day-to-day functions within state prisons.
Under the agreement, new guidelines will be followed at county jails that collectively hold over 1,600 state prisoners — about a quarter of Utah’s total prison population. Most counties in the state contract with the Department of Corrections to hold state inmates.