Facts and Policy Reforms for Utah
Like most states, Utah’s prison population has exploded in recent decades.
Between 1980 and 2016, the state prison population grew nearly seven-fold, and in 2016, 203 out of every 100,000 residents were in prison. That same year, Utah spent $453 million of its general fund on corrections, 316 percent more than it spent in 1985. Without further reform, the number of people imprisoned in Utah is projected to surpass 7,200 people by 2031.
As in many states, excessive sentences for drug charges have been a major driver of mass incarceration in Utah. Despite a 35 percent drop in annual admissions to prison for drug convictions between 2005 and 2015, more than one in three (35 percent) of 2015 admissions were for a drug conviction, including 23 percent for drug possession. While the number of people admitted to Utah prisons every year dropped by 22 percent between 2005 and 2015, the overall prison population only decreased by 2 percent. This can be attributed in part to a 47 percent increase in the average length of imprisonment over the same time period. And the number of people serving life sentences in Utah grew by 74 percent between 2000 and 2015.
Unsurprisingly, Utah’s mass incarceration crisis has had an enormous impact on people of color. The imprisonment rate for Black adults is 8.3 times that of white adults. In 2017, the adult imprisonment rate for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives in Utah was more than six times that of white adults. And although Latinos only comprise 12 percent of the state population, they made up 20 percent of the state’s 2017 prison population. Ending mass incarceration is a critical — although insufficient — step towards addressing racial disparities in Illinois’ criminal justice system as well as its broader society.
Women are also being sent to prison in Utah at alarming rates. Between 1995 and 2016, the number of women imprisoned in Utah increased by 152 percent, far outpacing the growth of the total prison population, which grew by 79 percent over the same time period.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Utah can dramatically reduce its prison population by implementing just a few sensible reforms:
- Further expanding treatment programs for substance use, like the efforts made during Operation Rio Grande in Salt Lake City, and expanding Medicaid to allow greater access to mental health and substance abuse treatment for Utahns on probation or parole.
- Moving away from a culture of criminalization that expands the criminal code.
- Holding Utah’s parole board accountable for consistent and fair parole determinations.
- Repealing the felony murder rule.
- Modifying penalties for property and public order offenses, and give judges more discretion at sentencing.
If Utah were to follow these and other reforms outlined in this Smart Justice 50-State Blueprint, by 2025 it could have 2,870 fewer people in its prison system, saving $250 million that could be invested in schools, services, and other resources that would strengthen communities.
For more information, along with detailed breakdowns of Utah’s prison population and the reforms needed to reduce it, click here.