Federal inmate number 15815-081 —aka Brian David Mitchell —has at last been booked into an Arizona federal prison.
Mitchell, convicted of the 2002 kidnap and rape of then 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, was transferred out of the Salt Lake County jail on Aug. 31. He arrived to his prison designation at the United States Penitentiary-Tuscon on Wednesday, said Edmond Ross, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Ross said it’s not unusual for the transport process of federal inmates to take days or weeks. He said the 57-year-old Mitchell was designated to the Tuscon facility in part because of the length of his term and because of Mitchell’s offense.
The prison, which houses 1,627 inmates is described as "is a high security institution housing male inmates, with a satellite camp that houses minimum security male inmates." It is located in southern Arizona, 10 miles southeast of Tuscon.
Mitchell’s prison designation had been kept secret as a security measure. The Bureau of Prisons does not release where inmates are housed until they have been safely transported.
Ross has said judges typically submit recommendations for where convicts should be housed, and an inmate is usually placed within 500 miles from his or her residence, if possible. An inmate’s security, medical needs, history of prison committments and behavioral history are also factors, he said.
Mitchell had been awaiting transport from the Salt Lake County jail since he was sentenced to life in prison on May 25 by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball after a jury found Mitchell guilty of abducting Smart at knifepoint and keeping her captive for nine months.
Jim Thompson, U.S. Marshal for the District of Utah, has said that Mitchell behaved during his move to prison.
Source: “The Salt Lake Tribune”
