Salt Lake County Jail’s capacity problems span two decades, audit finds

SALT LAKE CITY — A new legislative audit found Salt Lake County Jail has been dealing with a capacity problem for years and auditors said county leaders need to act quickly before the problem gets worse.

Auditors presented their findings to the Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee on Capitol Hill Thursday.

Audit Supervisor Ryan Thelin told lawmakers Salt Lake County hasn’t built a new jail bed since 2000.

But since that time, “(The county) has increased its population by over 300,000 people without building a single new jail bed,” Thelin said. “That is about the population of Weber County.”

Auditors said that was a big reason the jail started seeing overcrowding problems 20 years ago. The audit found that since 2007, the jail released more than 100,000 inmates due to overcrowding, and some of those inmates were violent, repeat offenders.

The audit referenced an unnamed inmate, who they refer to as Offender A.

Between October 2024 and March 2025, auditors say Offender A had an extensive, violent history, with charges including aggravated assault and domestic violence.

Offender A was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on April 15, 2025, on four new misdemeanor charges, but was released just eight hours later, according to the audit.

“Two weeks after Offender A’s overcrowding release, he threatened a vehicle owner with a knife and forced the owner to drive him out of a police containment area,” the audit reads.

Auditors said the jail released 1,785 inmates early due to overcrowding between January 1, 2025, and May 31, 2025.

They found that those inmates were far more likely to commit new crimes when they were released.

The audit shows 38.4% committed new crimes within 90 days of their release from jail.

Salt Lake County’s action and response

Salt Lake County authorities opened more than 200 new beds for the inmates at the old Oxbow Jail in June 2025.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera told lawmakers they have not released any inmates early due to overcrowding since opening up those beds.

Legislative Deputy Auditor General Brian Dean said it’s only a temporary solution.

“The (Oxbow) Jail is functionally full, ” Dean said. “The facilities are aging and behind on maintenance, and the county continues to grow.”

Salt Lake County proposed a $507 million bond in 2024 to close the Oxbow Jail and add new beds to the Metro Jail. But voters shot it down.

Sheriff Rivera told lawmakers Thursday that they plan to try another bond this coming November.  If that fails again, leaders will have to come up with another solution.

Rivera said they were able to secure funds from one of the county’s tax revenues and were used to open more beds at Oxbow.

She also said they are working with the county to see the other options they might have.

Ultimately, auditors said something needs to happen quickly and they urged other counties around the state that haven’t increased their jail capacity in recent years to take note of what they’ve seen happen in Salt Lake County.

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