Utah State Prison
Encyclopedia
Utah State Prison, or USP, is one of two prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s managed by the Utah Department of Corrections
Utah Department of Corrections
Utah Department of Corrections, or UDC, is a government agency dedicated to the management and supervision of convicted felons in the State of Utah. It is currently led by the Executive Director Tom Patterson...
' Division of Institutional Operations. It is located in Draper, Utah
Draper, Utah
Draper is a city in Salt Lake and Utah Counties in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Between 1990 and 2000 Draper was Utah's fastest-growing city over 5,000 people . Its population in 1990 was 7,143 and had grown to 25,220 by the 2000 census...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, about 20 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
History
The prison was built to replace Sugar House Prison, which closed in 1951. Its location was once remote and the nearby communities were rural. Since the prison's erection, business parks and residential neighborhoods have developed the once ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
area into a suburban one. This has prompted the possibility of moving the prison to a more isolated location. A study was initiated to determine if moving the prison would be feasible. It was determined that the Draper site would be too expensive to relocate elsewhere and will remain as is.
Facility
The large prison complex houses both male and female prisoners in separate units. The prison has a capacity of over 4,000 inmates. The Draper site is located near Point of the Mountain along the Traverse RidgeTraverse Ridge
The Traverse Mountains, or sometimes Traverse Range, are an anomalous, geologically complex, east-trending range that separates Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley in the U.S. State of Utah. The Traverse Mountains mark the boundary between the Salt Lake and Provo segments of the Wasatch Fault, and...
and consists of several units named after surrounding mountains and mountain ranges. These units range from minimum security to supermax
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
. The Uintas house maximum security units for male inmates and include a supermax facility and execution chamber
Execution chamber
An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which a legal execution is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death row population is housed...
. Wasatch and Oquirrhs house the medium security male inmates. Promontory is a medium security therapeutic community designed to treat drug abusers. Timpanogos houses female inmates and Olympus is the mental health unit. Lone Peak is a minimum security unit.
Scott P. Evans Architect & Associates designed the five buildings of the evaluation facility. The same company performed a reroof and a seismic upgrade of the SSD building.
Notable inmates
- Ted BundyTed BundyTheodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...
, serial killer, was sentenced to 15 years in the Utah State Prison in 1976, but was extraditedExtraditionExtradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to Colorado to face other murder charges. - Ronnie Lee GardnerRonnie Lee GardnerRonnie Lee Gardner was an American criminal who received the death penalty for murder in 1985, and was executed by firing squad by the state of Utah in 2010...
, convicted for murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and executed by firing squadExecution by firing squadExecution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...
on June 18, 2010. - Gary GilmoreGary GilmoreGary Mark Gilmore was an American criminal, and murderer, who gained international notoriety for demanding that his own death sentence be fulfilled following two murders he committed in Utah. He became the first person executed in the United States after the U.S...
was executed at the Utah State Prison in 1977. He was the first prisoner legally put to death in the United States since a U.S. Supreme Court rulingGregg v. GeorgiaGregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153 , reaffirmed the United States Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon...
that ended a 1967 moratorium on capital punishmentCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. - Thomas Arthur GreenThomas Arthur GreenThomas Arthur Green is a Mormon fundamentalist in Utah who is a practitioner of plural marriage. After a high profile trial, Green was convicted by the state of Utah on May 18, 2001 of four counts of bigamy and one count of failure to pay child support...
, a convicted bigamist and noted practicing polygamistPolygamyPolygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, served his sentences here. He was released in the summer of 2007. - Mark HofmannMark HofmannMark William Hofmann is an American counterfeiter, forger and convicted murderer. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished forgers in history, Hofmann is especially noted for his creation of documents related to the history of the Latter Day Saint movement...
, convicted for murder and forgeryForgeryForgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
, is currently incarcerated at the Utah State Prison. - Warren JeffsWarren JeffsWarren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....
, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsFundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsThe Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
, was incarcerated at the Utah State Prison. However, he is now serving a life sentence for sex crimes in Texas. - Troy KellTroy KellTroy Michael Kell is an inmate on death row in Utah. Troy Kell was sentenced to life in prison by the State of Nevada for the 1986 murder of James "Cotton" Kelly. Shortly after his conviction he was transferred to the Utah State Prison as part of a prisoner exchange program...
, convicted for murder after stabbing an inmate 67 times in the Central Utah Correctional FacilityCentral Utah Correctional FacilityThe Central Utah Correctional Facility is one of two prisons managed by the Utah Department of Corrections' Division of Institutional Operations. It is located in Gunnison, Utah in the central part of the state. The prison was completed in 1990 and has a capacity for 1,125 prisoners.Commonly...
and sentenced to the death penalty and has chosen to be executed by firing squad. - Barton Kay KirkhamBarton Kay KirkhamBarton Kay Kirkham was a deserter of the United States Air Force who was discharged in 1955 after committing a robbery in Colorado...
, convicted for murder and the last inmate to be executed by hangingHangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
in the state of Utah in 1958. - James W. RodgersJames W. RodgersJames W. Rodgers was an American who was sentenced to death by the state of Utah for the murder of miner Charles Merrifield in 1957. In his final statement before his execution in 1960, Rodgers requested a bulletproof vest...
, convicted for murder and the last inmate to be executed by firing squad in the United States in 1960, before a de factoDe factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
national moratorium on capital punishment was enacted with the U.S. Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
decision of Furman v. GeorgiaFurman v. GeorgiaFurman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
. - John Albert TaylorJohn Albert TaylorJohn Albert Taylor was an American who was convicted of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon in the state of Florida, and sexual assault and murder in the state of Utah. Taylor's own sister tipped off police in June 1989 after 11-year-old Charla King was found raped and strangled to death in...
, executed by firing squad in 1996 for the 1988 rape and strangulation of an 11-year-old girl.
See also
- Capital punishment in Utah
- List of Utah state prisons
- Utah Department of CorrectionsUtah Department of CorrectionsUtah Department of Corrections, or UDC, is a government agency dedicated to the management and supervision of convicted felons in the State of Utah. It is currently led by the Executive Director Tom Patterson...
External links
- Official site at the Utah Department of CorrectionsUtah Department of CorrectionsUtah Department of Corrections, or UDC, is a government agency dedicated to the management and supervision of convicted felons in the State of Utah. It is currently led by the Executive Director Tom Patterson...