State and County Hold Off on Oxbow Deal

Mar 04, 2008 by Jeff Robinson

County Optimistic It Will Happen Later

(KCPW News) The state won't be buying Oxbow Jail from Salt Lake County before the end of this legislative session. Both sides want the deal to happen, but it got hung up on the county's desire to move 300 state prisoners out of the county jail and back into state facilities. County Council Chairman Michael Jensen says the state only reimburses the county for half the cost of housing those prisoners.

"We just said look, we would love to sell Oxbow, and then, in selling Oxbow, we would love to take all condition-of-probation prisoners out of the county jail," said Jensen. "That solves the issue of jail reimbursement in Salt Lake County."

Jensen says he's optimistic that the two sides can negotiate the deal over the summer and close it either during the interim session or next year.

House Speaker Greg Curtis says the state hasn't had time yet to figure out what they would do with those 300 prisoners, but they still want to move forward with the deal.

"We didn't have good, hard numbers as to how we would deal with those 300-plus prisoners, and what it would cost, and where we would put them," said Curtis. "We still want to continue to move forward in a cooperative effort, but with that one on the table it was just too hard to say, where are we going to put them; if the county gives them back to us, how are we going to deal with that."

Both sides say the purchase price of the jail is not expected to be an issue. The county is currently getting another appraisal of the facility, which has been vacant since 2002.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom and 2008 Legislative Coverage. Copyright 2008 KCPW