Hurricane, Italy
Purgatory Correctional Facility is the county jail of Washington County, Utah. Also known as the Washington County Jail, it is located near St. George, Utah, at Purgatory Flats, hence its unusual name. Technically lying within the borders of Hurricane, Utah, the facility is about halfway between dow
ntown St. George and downtown Hurricane at Harrisburg Junction (the junction of I-15 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 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. The Correctional Facility is located within a business park area. The facility has both male and female inmates. In 2005, the facility had a recidivism rate of 75 percent. The Purgatory jail made headlines in 2006 when it was used for the incarceration for the cult leader and child sex offender Warren Jeffs, following his flight from justice. He was kept there for...
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