After alarming rise in Utah jail deaths, lawmakers turn to suicide barriers

Utah lawmakers decided on Thursday to address a steep increase in inmate deaths with a voluntary grant program intended to help jails install suicide barriers.The measure’s sponsors, Rep. Carol Spackman Moss and Sen. Todd Weiler, both acknowledged in hearings throughout this year’s legislative session that suicide barriers won’t eradicate jail deaths, but they hope this program will help.The lawmakers’ proposal, HB259, comes after 19 inmates died in Utah jails in 2020 &md