Utah Department of Corrections

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Female Correctional Officers

KUTV Channel 2 News recently aired a segment exploring the work life of a female Correctional Officer. To read the story and watch the video, click here.

The Utah Department of Corrections held its annual "Corrections Week." The 2011 celebration included an array of charitable events to benefit the community. Department staff organized and participated in a food drive for a local food bank in northern Utah, a book drive for children at the Ogden YCC, a blood drive to benefit MountainStar Blood Services, and a silent auction and torch run for the Special Olympics - among other events.

Photo: UDC Special Olympics Torch Run 2011

Additionally, Utah Governor Gary Herbert visited the Utah State Prison's women's facility to tour its substance-abuse rehabilitation program and an effort aimed at helping female offenders prepare to reintegrate into society through acquiring housing, jobs, and other necessities. The Governor also signed a document officially declaring May 1 - May 7, 2011, "Corrections Week."

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Women's Exercise Program

A group of female offenders at the Utah State Prison have established an exercise program with the support of Utah Department of Corrections staff and officers. KSL-TV recently visited the Draper site to talk to the women directly about how the program has impacted their lives.

Read the story here.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Gingerbread Festival

It’s not just a house – it’s “gingerbread architecture.”

That’s how a group of female offenders at the Utah State Prison describe a pair of ornate and detailed sceneries they recently crafted over the course of just a couple weeks.

Since mid-October, a group of fewer than 10 women have been collaborating to design, bake and build two edible and aesthetically wondrous works of art. The first depicts a mountainous scene, complete with the balloon house from the Disney/Pixar movie “Up,” and intends to honor the Boy Scouts of America’s 100^th anniversary. The second is a massive and intricate model of the Notre Dame Cathedral inspired by “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

The exquisite pieces will be featured in an annual gingerbread house competition hosted by the Boy Scouts of America and the PTA. Following an awards presentation and three-day event, the culinary creations will be auctioned to benefit Utah children through Learning for Life character education and the Utah PTA Arts Education Fund.

This is the ninth time women in the Utah State Prison have participated in the Gingerbread Festival. Prison Lt. Rod Villamil, who is once again spearheading the effort, said onlookers distracted by the creations’ beauty are always shocked to learn that inmates built the awe-inspiring works of art.

The women said they are thrilled for the opportunity to work together and do something creative with the time they spend in prison.

“In an institutional environment, the overall goal is homogenization. You try to toe the line,” said Carole Alden, a team member and artist who fashioned the characters depicted in the scenes using bread dough, fondant and food coloring. “But something like this really inspires people’s creativity. I’m grateful that we’re allowed to do this.”

And Janette Snyder said she gained skills and learned a lot about the craft of designing and building through the journey to create the gingerbread projects.

“I look forward to it, because you really form a meaningful association with these other women,” Snyder said.

Said Deb Brown: "It's the legal great escape."

The group used gingerbread, fondant, hard candies, frosting and food dye along with other materials such as lights. They worked in different shifts – often late into the nights and early mornings – whenever they could fit the project into their out of cell time. That meant juggling the artistic effort along with their usual classes, treatment or other programs.

So what was the hardest part of the whole project? The group notes they faced humidity that warped the shapes and bulged the windows of the cathedral. The group constructed a house, mountains, rocks, merit badges, cathedral walls, flying buttresses, bell towers, a steeple, cobblestones and snow flakes from gingerbread. Ailine Tauteoli notes they handcrafted trees, leaves and flowers from fondant as well as stained-glass windows from hard tack candy and finishing touches with royal icing. But Deb Brown insists the prize goes to the balloons on the “Up” scene. Though it appears to be gently floating an entire home through the air, the mass of fondant balloons feel more like a lead brick, making it difficult to steady the stick that served as a stand.

Eventually the group finished assembling all the separate parts and carefully pieced them together to form two masterpieces. In the end, the women said they were shocked by how coherently all the pieces and personalities came together.

A first-timer to the gingerbread project, Silia ‘Olive said she came in with a lot of anxiety and didn’t want to make a mistake. But after observing, baking and contributing to the project, she notes she’ll “really be ready for next time.”

As he thumbed through a photo album of past projects, Villamil pointed to multicultural projects, castles, dragons, and an impressive depiction of Hogwarts from the “Harry Potter” books and movies. But the inmates note that he’s never satisfied and continues to raise the bar every year, ushering in a new challenge.

He and fellow officers still face the daunting task of meticulously transporting the projects down to Orem for the festival coming up on Nov. 12, 13 and 15.

The women pieced together a brief written explanation to accompany each of the projects, including praise for supportive prison staff, namely Villamil, Deputy Warden Jerry Pope and Captain Mary Ann Reding. They also wrote a brief educational history of the Notre Dame de Paris and the Boy Scouts of America.

The women add that the gingerbread depictions are “ a small gesture…extended to society with sincere hearts…This is one step on our journey to becoming the women we are capable of being.”

Participating inmates:

-Sally Krivanek
-Barbara Curvin
-Carole Alden
-Silia 'Olive
-Deb Brown
-Janette Snyder
-Ailine Tauteoli

Photos: (Above) Barbara Curvin, left, and Carole Alden pose next to the gingerbread scene from the movie "Up."

Monday, October 25, 2010

Pumpkin Donations

Each Halloween, the Utah Department of Corrections donates thousands of pumpkins to children throughout the Salt Lake valley. The 2010 donation will benefit Camp Kostopulos, a local Boys & Girls Club, a family center, special-needs students at a local school, and Primary Childrens Medical Center.

Earlier in October, Utah State Prison workers began delivering some of the approximately 2,000 pumpkins grown by some 50 inmates at the Draper site's greenhouse facility. The inmates began growing the pumpkins in June with help from prison staff and some offenders in other sections of the prison site.

The inmates and staff work year-round in the greenhouse. During the early winter months, offenders begin planting seeds for spring flowers. They are hired to work in the facility as a formal prison job. Their daily laboring hours normally last from about 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. When they have finished harvesting the pumpkins, inmates will begin growing poinsettias for the holiday season, which will be sent out to various state offices.

Below is a listing of all this year's pumpkin deliveries:

-Primary Childrens Medical Center: Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010.

-Turn Community Center: Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010.

-Murray Boys & Girls Club: Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010.

-Rise, Inc.: Friday, Oct. 15, 2010.

-Camp Kostopulos: Friday, Oct. 15, 2010.

-Shriners Hospital: Friday, Oct. 22, 2010.

-Kauri Sue Hamilton School: Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010.

-Jordan Valley Family Center: Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010.

For more information on the events, please contact the Department of Corrections' Public Information Officer at 801-545-5500.

Photos (Above): Lt. Ivie, left, and Officer Tuttle of the Utah State Prison help a young student select a pumpkin at the Oct. 26 donation at the Kauri Sue Hamilton school in Riverton.

(Below): A Kauri Sue Hamilton student beaming after picking out a pumpkin.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Prison Graduation

*UPDATE* On June 23, 2010, a record 184 inmates graduated from the Central Utah Academy at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah. This figure was up 78 graduates over the 2009 number - a nearly 74 percent increase.

DRAPER — She dropped out of school at the age of 14, just after her first son was born. For the next 12 years, Patricia Staley’s life spiraled out of control. She had three children by 19 and lost custody of all of them before her 21st birthday. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began struggling with a pain-pill habit. She started sleeping all day, made several attempts to take her own life, and ultimately landed at the Utah State Prison at the age of 26 on a burglary conviction.

“It was short-sighted to think I should just end it,” Staley said. “But by the time I realized that, it was too late to go back and tell myself that I should be fighting for my kids.”

When reality set in, Staley finally began picking up the pieces. Now 28, she has shed nearly 50 pounds, established structure in her life, and graduated from Ex-Cell (the prison’s substance-abuse program for women).

To top it off, Staley is looking forward to an accomplishment many of her peers achieved 10 years ago. She will receive her high-school diploma and address her fellow classmates at the Utah State Prison’s commencement ceremonies on Tuesday, June 1.

Staley said she always loved school, but the team of teachers at the prison’s South Park Academy – under the jurisdiction of the new Canyons School District – inspired her to change.

“I learned to lead, to manage, to delegate,” she said. “Sometimes people have to trust you before you trust yourself.”

Now, Staley said she would like to work at the school in effort to give back. She has a parole date set for October and wants to regain custody of her oldest, 13-year-old son. Her other son and daughter were adopted by a good family, but Staley’s experiences left her hoping to work with teenage mothers who are going through similar struggles.

“I hated me so bad, but I’ve changed the things I didn’t like. Now, I love me,” Staley said. It’s all up to me now.”

South Park Academy will hold two separate commencement ceremonies on June 1. About 370 inmates - the most in prison history - will receive their diplomas.