SALT LAKE CITY — Normal operations have resumed at the new Utah State Correctional Facility after a water break in the female housing section on Tuesday.
Officials told FOX 13 News the water break happened in the Dell unit and was repaired Wednesday morning just after 9:30 a.m.
FOX 13 Investigates: Workers worry Utah’s new billion dollar prison isn’t safe
In the absence of running water, portable toilets were brought in and clean water was distributed for drinking and other needs, officials explained.
"The Department is appreciative of its staff jumping into action to ensure the women's needs were met," officials said in an email to FOX 13 News. "We understand utility interruption can be uncomfortable, as it is to any of us when this occurs, and we appreciate everyone's patience."
The Utah prison cost over a billion dollars to complete and was finishedin June 2022.
Since opening the facility has been the focus of widespread concern from both prison employees and inmates. According to a FOX 13 News investigation, issues range from prison officials failing to invest in a proper workforce to problems with its design.
The prison was designed to utilize what’s called direct supervision. Instead of keeping corrections officers in control booths to monitor inmates and remotely open doors for them, like at the old prison, officers are more often supposed to be sitting at a desk among the inmates.
“We are in a crisis,” one employee wrote to legislators. “We have minimum staff, and staff without proper training and support trying to operate a prison that wasn’t ready to operate.”
