Becky Brown, who oversees administrative operations, reentry and rehabilitation at the Utah Department of Corrections, said the agency is redesigning use of community correctional centers, improving intake and increasing evidence-based treatment to support successful returns to the community.

Brown said the department is doing an "environmental scan" of the six community correctional centers and is concentrating early in custody on intake quality to identify limitations and begin reentry work sooner. That work includes connecting people with health care, rehabilitative services, housing, education and vocational training well before release.

Why it matters: UDC leaders said early intervention and better transitions reduce returns to custody and the need for additional prison capacity. Spencer Turley, deputy executive director, said the department continues to see people come back "at a rate of about 66 percent on parole violations," and added most of those are technical violations rather than new criminal charges. Brown and other leaders tied that pattern to gaps in medication stabilization, substance-abuse treatment and wraparound supports that can be addressed earlier in custody.

Brown also said the department will publish a 10-year master plan to forecast capacity needs and guide investments in facilities and programming. "One big thing that we'll be seeing come out is our 10 year master plan, which will really help us look forward over the next 10 years for the needs that we will have, related to capacity and then will help us really drive forward with good efficiency," she said.

The department also described Utah Correctional Industries as part of rehabilitation work: Brown said about 400 people work for the industries program inside prisons, supplying vocational training and employment experience. Leaders said reducing technical returns to supervision and improving reentry success are essential to lowering long-term bed needs while protecting public safety.

The department did not provide specific budget figures or statutory changes tied to the master plan during the podcast; leaders framed the plan as an internal planning and operational tool to be released over coming months.