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Alex Cabrero ReportingGrowth in rural areas can be both good and bad, depending on who you talk to.
If you chat with the folks who run the Box Elder County Jail, it's out of control. The new jail is already too old.
The jail was built just eight years ago. It was supposed to last at least 20 years, into about the year 2017. But jailers say not even Nostradamus could have predicted the kind of crowding issues they have now.
When you hear the sound of walking chains, inmates at the Box Elder County jail had better be on their best behavior, especially now.
Maggie Bull/Jail Commander: "Safety is of the utmost concern for us."
Maggie Bull runs the jail, and has been for a few years now. She has never seen so many inmates here.
Maggie Bull/Jail Commander: "I am definitely worried about that."
Maggie Bull/Jail Commander: "It's just gradually growing. But the major increase came this year."
She's not kidding. Just a few years ago, the jail averaged 40 inmates a day. It holds 168 beds. That means a lot of them used to be empty.
But today, 161 of them were full.
Cade Palmer/Box Elder Co. Sheriff's Office: "From last year to this year, it seems like it doubled."
Cade Palmer keeps an eye on the inmates. He's also been keeping an eye on his fellow officers, making sure they're safe, because while the inmate population has grown, there are still the same number of guards watching them.
Cade Palmer/ Box Elder Co. Sheriff's Office: "It definitely raises our awareness. [With] a lot more inmates crammed in small areas, tensions get a little higher."
Box Elder has been sending some inmates to Cache County's jail to keep numbers down. But eventually, everyone here says an addition to this building, or a whole new jail altogether, is going to be needed.
Maggie Bull: "It's very important for the public to know that this is what we're operating with. We're not inflating anything. It's just a fact of life."
Jail officials are waiting for a report from the National Institute of Corrections to see how best to go forward. But they know it could be a tough sell to ask for a new jail, after building this one just eight years ago.
As for why there are so many more inmates now, Bull says it's because of more alcohol and drug abuse, especially meth.
