Purgatory Correctional Facility is the county jail of Washington County, Utah. Also known as the Washington County Jail, it is located near St. George, Utah at Purgatory Flats, hence its unusual name. [1]
Washington County is a county in the southwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 138,115, making it the fifth-most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is St. George. The county was created in 1852 and organized in 1856. It was named for the first President of the United States, George Washington.
Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U.S. on January 4, 1896. Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 30th-most-populous, and 11th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million according to the Census estimate for July 1, 2016. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which contains approximately 2.5 million people; and Washington County in Southern Utah, with over 160,000 residents. Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast.
St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in the southwestern part of the state on the Arizona border, near the tri-state junction of Utah, Arizona and Nevada, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies in the northeasternmost part of the Mojave Desert, adjacent to the Pine Valley Mountains near the convergence of three distinct geological areas: the Mojave Desert, Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin. The city is 118 miles northeast of Las Vegas and 300 miles south-southwest of Salt Lake City on Interstate 15. The St. George area is well known for its natural environment and proximity to several state and national parks.
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Technically lying within the borders of Hurricane, Utah, the facility is about halfway between downtown St. George and downtown Hurricane at Harrisburg Junction (the junction of I-15 and SR-9). It has a semi-rural setting in the shadow of a steep ridge, part of the Virgin Rivers anticline. [2] [3] The Virgin River flows north of the ridge.
Hurricane is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States and is a part of the St. George Metropolitan Area. Its population was 13,748 at the 2010 U.S. Census. Along with several other areas of southwestern Utah, the Hurricane area has seen large population growth since the 1970s. Because of this, it has become a suburb of St. George, while retaining its rural character.
Interstate 15 (I-15) runs north–south in the U.S. state of Utah through the southwestern and central portions of the state, passing through many of the population centers of the state, including St. George, Provo, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, the latter three being part of the urban area known as the Wasatch Front. It is the primary north–south highway in Utah, as the majority of the state's population lives along its corridor. The only Metropolitan Statistical Area in Utah not connected by I-15 is the Logan Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1998, the Utah Legislature designated the entire length within Utah as the Veterans Memorial Highway.
The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about 162 miles (261 km) long. It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the centennial celebration of Zion National Park.
Purgatory Correctional Facility has a typical occupancy of 400 to 500 inmates, with 150 employees and a full-time medical clinic. [4] [5] The estimated cost of the facility, completed in 1998, was $11,570,000. [6] It was designed by the architectural firm of Gillies, Stransky, Brems & Smith of Salt Lake City. [7] Situated on South 5200 West Road, the Correctional Facility is located within a growing business park area, including the Fairgrounds Industrial Park and the Quail Creek Industrial Park. Tenants nearby include the Washington County Department of Motor Vehicles; to the north is Washington County Regional Fair Park which includes Dixie Downs, a horse racing track, and the Southern Utah Shooting Sports Park. [8] [9] Also nearby, Walmart has a large distribution center. [10]
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Utah. With an estimated population of 190,884 in 2014, the city is the core of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,153,340. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a 120-mile (190 km) segment of the Wasatch Front, comprising a population of 2,423,912. It is one of only two major urban areas in the Great Basin.
Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses. As of January 31, 2019, Walmart has 11,361 stores and clubs in 27 countries, operating under 55 different names. The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and Canada, as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as the Seiyu Group in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Chile, Canada, and South Africa. Since August 2018, Walmart only holds a minority stake in Walmart Brasil, with 20% of the company's shares, and private equity firm Advent International holding 80% ownership of the company.
In order to cut its operating costs, as well as to reduce recidivism, in 2008 the Sheriff's Office began charging inmates to stay at the jail, which is co-ed. [11] In 2005 it had a recidivism rate of 75 percent. [12]
Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to extinguish that behavior. It is also used to refer to the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense.
The Purgatory jail made headlines in 2006 when it was the scene of incarceration for Warren Jeffs, following his flight from justice. [13] He stayed there for twelve months before trial and conviction for two first degree felony counts of rape, [14] at which time he was transferred to Utah State Prison.
Warren Steed Jeffs is the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In 2011 he was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault, for which he is currently serving a sentence of life plus 20 years.
