Sugar House Prison (Utah) (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Sugar House Prison, previously the Utah Territorial Penitentiary, was a prison in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah. The 180-acre (0.73 km2) prison housed more than 400 inmates. It was closed in 1951 due to encroaching housing development, and all of its inmates were moved to the new Utah State Prison in Draper. The site is now occupied by Sugar House Park and Highland High School.Plans for a penitentiary to serve the newly-established Utah Territory were drawn up in March 1853. In the following October, territorial governor Brigham Young selected the 10-acre (4 ha) government-owned site, then known as "The Big Field Survey," about six miles from central Salt Lake City. 16 "cozy cells dug into the ground, with iron bars on top" comprised the original prison at a cost of $32,000. The facility that became known as the Utah Territorial Penitentiary was opened in January 1855.