Purgatory Correctional Facility is the county jail of Washington County,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Also known as the Washington County Jail, it is located near

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

, at Purgatory Flats, hence its unusual name. Technically lying within the borders of

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

, the facility is about halfway between downtown St. George and downtown Hurricane at Harrisburg Junction (the junction of

I-15 I15 may refer to: * Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America * Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft * I15 (band) "Soulja Girl" is the second single from American rapper Soulja Boy's studio album '' ...

and SR-9). It has a semi-rural setting in the shadow of a steep ridge, part of the Virgin Rivers anticline. The

Virgin River The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...

flows north of the ridge. Purgatory Correctional Facility has a typical occupancy of 400 to 500 inmates, with 150 employees and a full-time medical clinic. The estimated cost of the facility, completed in 1998, was $11,570,000. It was designed by the architectural firm of Gillies, Stransky, Brems & Smith of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. 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. Also nearby,

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

has a large distribution center. In order to cut its operating costs, as well as to reduce

recidivism Recidivism (; from ''recidive'' and ''ism'', from Latin ''recidīvus'' "recurring", from ''re-'' "back" and ''cadō'' "I fall") is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of th ...

, in 2008 the Sheriff's Office began charging inmates to stay at the jail, which is

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

. In 2005 it had a recidivism rate of 75 percent. The Purgatory jail made headlines in 2006 when it was the scene of incarceration for Warren Jeffs, following his flight from justice. He stayed there for twelve months before trial and conviction for two first degree felony counts of rape,Rachel Bell
"False Prophet: Warren Jeffs"
"Chapter 12: Warren Jeffs' Trial" at which time he was transferred to Utah State Prison.

References

External links

Human Flower Project: Flowers in Purgatory
{{Coord, 37, 09, 30, N, 113, 24, 44, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-UT Prisons in Utah Buildings and structures in Washington County, Utah 1998 establishments in Utah

References

Further reading

External links