In a bipartisan vote, the Salt Lake County Council supported placing a public safety bond on the November ballot.
Our jails are at capacity and urgently require expansion. The proposed public safety bond will enable us to consolidate two jails into one, add more beds, expand mental health treatment services, and create a facility to support inmates transitioning back into the community.
Low-level offenders who continually cycle in and out of jail continue to place a considerable burden on taxpayers and our criminal justice system. Many of these individuals experience instability and struggle with underlying mental health issues and substance use disorders. Unfortunately, our current jail and criminal justice system are neither designed nor equipped to address these needs.
The goal of the Justice and Accountability Center (JAC) is to remove repeat offenders from the streets and place them in a lower-security correctional facility where they will have access to outpatient mental health services and substance use treatment, job training, housing opportunities, and other vital services to help them get their lives back on track. The JAC aims to ensure these people receive targeted interventions at a cost that is much less than a high-security jail.
This bond is a bipartisan initiative that is part of the county and state’s broader efforts to address the pressing issues of mental health services, housing, and criminal justice reform.
We believe the public safety bond reduces the number of offenders on the streets, keeps our neighborhoods safer, protects our businesses, and ultimately is the most fiscally conservative way to invest in public safety and improve quality of life.
