As one of Utah’s larger state agencies, no one has ever claimed that the Corrections budget is easy to understand. However, while we won’t get into the nuts and bolts today, understanding Corrections’ five strategic goals makes it easy to understand why the state is investing additional resources in the budget.
Each pillar below demonstrates a strategic initiative aimed to encourage successful reentry from the corrections system back into society.
During the 2025 and 2026 General Sessions, the Legislature took strides to align funding with future needs, including investments in 1. prison capacity, 2. jail contracting, and 3. jail reimbursement.
All three of these efforts will move Corrections’ strategy forward in their own way, whether by improving and expanding the facilities the state needs to ensure public safety and support inmates through their rehabilitation, or by ensuring that collaborative and innovative relationships with local governments can remain successful in the future.
State Prison Capacity
Maintaining sufficient correctional facilities is an important part of DOC’s strategic goals to support safety, health, and rehabilitation. During the 2026 General Session, the Legislature appropriated $125.0 million to address increased prison population projections by increasing site capacity at the Gunnison prison site by 700 beds and avoid alternative measures such as unwanted early release of inmates (H.B. 2, Item 169 & H.B. 3, Item 488).
The Department of Corrections is working with the Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DFCM) to prepare multiple scenarios for the prison site expansion and expects to complete planning and design by December 2026. Construction is expected to take two to three years.
Jail Contracting
In a collaborative jail contracting program, Utah houses state inmates at local county jails that have extra capacity and pays the counties for the use of that capacity. This collaboration benefits both the state and the counties—the state is able to reduce inmates housed at the two state prison sites, which helps to delay costly prison expansion projects and staff increases. Meanwhile, the counties can offset some of their operating costs, such as staffing and debt service, with contract payments from the state. Right now, the state budgets for about 1,600 local county jail beds each year.
In the 2025 General Session, H.B. 312 limited the annual rate increase for the amount that the state pays counties for this local jail capacity. Prior to the 2025 General Session, the daily incarceration rate was calculated using a three-year average, and there was no statutory cap for the increase. Now, the rate increase is capped at 5% per year, which will help the state avoid significant contracting cost spikes caused by changing prison population trends and costs and bring more stability to budgeting for this program. Under the current law, the state will pay counties 70% of the average state daily incarceration cost, or the average annual costs to house a prisoner at the state prison, and up to 84% based on any treatment the county provides, such as substance abuse treatment.
Jail Reimbursement
Like the Jail Contracting program, the state also reimburses counties for a portion of housing costs for certain probationers who are sentenced to county jails as a condition of their probation. Statute sets this rate at 50% of the state daily rate for housing individuals sentenced to probation. This agreement reflects a shared cost between the county and the state in housing these individuals.
During the 2026 General Session, the Legislature reviewed population and program changes and appropriated an additional $8.2 million (H.B. 6, Item 42). This additional funding will cover the extra capacity that’s needed due to increased penalties and sentencing changes, which results in more probationers being detained longer in county jails as opposed to being released into the community and potentially increasing risks to public safety.
As the state continues to grow, adequate prison capacity, jail contracting, and jail reimbursement will continue to balance the pressure of managing correctional growth. Managed by the guiding principles above, these systems work together to help maintain sufficient capacity across the state for incarcerated individuals while also protecting public safety.