On December 8, Salt Lake County opened its new Day Reporting Center, which will serve as an alternative to incarceration for up to 250 nonviolent drug offenders, the Associated Press reported on December 9.The center, located in a strip mall, will begin by serving 46 offenders. Jail inmates identified as eligible after a screening process are able to participate in the program, which includes employment assistance, random drug testing and supervision by therapists and three case managers.
"For the state of Utah, it's a big mental shift from 'lock 'em up' to 'treat them,' " said Mayor Peter Corroon, who supported fully funding the center. "It's better for them, it's cheaper for society, and it's good for people with families."
Dealing with offenders in this new program costs only $10 each day, whereas incarcerating them in the county jail costs $72 each day.
Inmates will be eager to rehabilitate their broken lives, according to Brent Leake, a case manager and former drug court employee.
"This is going to fly," he said.
The $1 million center comes as part of the Salt Lake County Offender Reform Act (CORA), which also provides $1.2 million for substance abuse treatment, with 250 inmates already identified as eligible, the Deseret Morning News reported on December 8.
CORA is an adaptation of the state-level Drug Offender Reform Act, which failed to pass in the legislature this year.
This holistic approach also includes a rent assistance program for homeless offenders participating in the treatment program, in addition to a diversion program that will place nonviolent mentally ill offenders in supervised mental health treatment rather than jail.
"These are people who sometimes rotate through the system," said Gary Dalton, director of Criminal Justice Services. "They get in trouble, don't create serious enough offenses for imprisonment and are always going through the system," he said.
The new rehabilitation measures also coincide with high demands for cell space in the county jail, according to Sheriff Aaron Kennard.
"I'm all for these new programs because eventually it will help with the recidivism rate," Kennard said while lobbying for the reopening of the vacant Oxbow jail. When offenders do not cooperate with program rules, however, a sanction becomes necessary, and "that sanction has to be they go back to jail, and there are no beds."
