UDC News

Please join us in welcoming Armanda Mercado as the new Deputy Director of Utah Correctional Industries (UCI). Mercado began her career with Corrections in 2009 as an intern with the Sex Offender and Kidnap Registry office, assisting with registrations and the public database. She transferred to UCI in 2014 as an internal auditor and later promoted to Operations Manager, Correctional

The Utah Department of Corrections would like to thank Devery S. Anderson, author of the book “Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement,” for speaking with incarcerated individuals at the Utah State Correctional Facility this week. The students are participating in high school education at USCF.  Anderson spoke on the history of the

Dan Chesnut, Prison Operations Director at the Utah Department of Corrections, provided an update today following three recent assaults against staff at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. It was followed by a live Q&A via Zoom.  “Let me be clear: Staff assaults are not acceptable. Ever,” said Chesnut on the live broadcast. “As we’ve reviewed these

Agents from the Utah Department of Corrections’ Division of Adult Probation and Parole have located a missing juvenile girl from Arizona, arresting a Utah man in the process. On Jan. 31, AP&P agents received information from Arizona involving a missing girl and a possible connection to Jordan Sorenson, who was convicted in June 2020 of first-degree felony aggravated sexual extortion

Randall Honey has been selected as the new Inmate Placement Program Director at the Utah Department of Corrections. Honey began his career in 2004, working in the Uinta facility at the now-closed Utah State Prison in Draper. He promoted to sergeant, moved to the Oquirrh facility, and later became the Security Threat Group Intelligence Coordinator for the Draper facility. In

In an effort to better align governmental services under those agencies best-equipped to oversee them, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will be assuming responsibility for health care in Utah’s prison system beginning July 1, 2023. The Clinical Services Bureau, a roughly 200-employee division of the Utah Department of Corrections, will transition under DHHS as its staff continue

After receiving positive feedback from inmate family and loved ones last year, the Utah Department of Corrections is again offering expanded video visiting opportunities at the Utah State Correctional Facility and the Central Utah Correctional Facility on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The UDC increase in video visiting will happen in all areas of the prisons to provide more inmates

The 2022 Holiday Gift Bags are now available from the Utah Department of Corrections’ commissary. You can find more details about the program here. This year, the packages consist of food items only. Once on the site, enter the number of the incarcerated individual or use the search function to find the person by name. From there, you can compile

Incarcerated individuals working in the UCI textile shop produced 100 backpacks for donation to the Sevier County Backpack Club this month. This organization uses backpacks as a foundation to create food kits for children in need around Sevier County. “It really is a cool thing that they do, and we are happy we could be part of it,” said UCI

Laundry detergent has been removed from Commissary to help reinforce a rule that laundry cannot be washed at the housing unit. This rule is in place for several security reasons. Conflicts arise because a person or group takes possession of laundry buckets not allowing access to other offenders. Water temperatures are not hot enough to sanitize the laundry and 5-gallon