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Andrew Spencer, KSL Newsradio The problem is balancing the needs of the state. The Ogden chief of police says brick and mortar are the keys to deterring criminals.
Prisoner bed space in Utah is about 240 beds per 100,000 people. "That's the lowest bed space count of any state west of the Mississippi," Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner said.
The national average is almost double that, and Greiner says that's why prisoners are shipped out to county jails. "The corrections establishment has to put people that they think they can rehabilitate where resources are; and those that have long-term sentences, that won't see the board of pardons for a while, will be farmed out farther away," Greiner explained.
However, with funding and security problems, those prisoners are being called back to the prison and taking up much-needed space.
