A&E ’60 Days In’: Utah Sheriff on Season 9 Dramas & Undercover Missions

It’s back behind bars as 60 Days In returns for Season 9. The setting for the A&E series this time around is the Utah County Jail under the leadership of Sheriff Mike Smith. He’ll work with seven dedicated participants who voluntarily go undercover to reveal drugs, contraband, and gang activity. To help identify problems and chronicle their journeys, production for the show installed 60 surveillance cameras and 190 microphones. This is done with hopes to bring positive change for inmates and staff at the facility.

Sheriff Smith, currently in his second four-year term in his position, will introduce everyone volunteering on the covert mission before they are booked. This brings them together as a team with the hope their embedded activities get him the insight he may not have otherwise.

For the first time in the series, a new rule was enacted that once you give the distress signal, you are pulled from the program. No second chances here. We sat down with the sheriff to provide intel on what was to come.

Were you aware of the show in the past? 

Sheriff Mike Smith: I was aware as one of my friends, a fellow sheriff, had participated, but honestly I’ve never looked into it closely. I hadn’t really watched any of it until I started to consider doing it.

What went into the process of you ultimately deciding to go with it? 

We were approached a couple of different times throughout the years. All through that time I’d say there was pushback from my administrators in the jail. Since I’ve been sheriff, I’ve been very open to audits of our performance and what we’re doing. Before I was sheriff, the narrative was the previous sheriff never allowed audits. There was the question if I was going to allow audits and transparency. My answer was absolutely yes.

This was back when I was the sheriff-elect. They didn’t do them. I was in office for six months, and they still didn’t do them. So I went into a commission meeting and public meetings. We started them. The reality is those audits are really focusing on things like financial transactions, shift coverage, a lot of things. None of them focuses on anything as deep as 60 Days In offers. That was the deciding factor for me. That if I want a closer look at what is going on inside that jail, this is the only way I would get it.

A&E

What do you want viewers to know about the Utah State Jail? 

It’s the second-largest jail in the state of Utah. I think it’s going to be different than the jails you’ve seen in other seasons. Our average stay is about 18 days, so we have a quick turnover. We have people in there that are in there longer. At the end of the day, I believe it is a very well-run jail.

What were some of your hopes that would be brought out through this experience? 

With these people in jail, we have a lot of people in there for drug use. Worse case for me is they are in jail and still have access to the drugs. It is the time in jail that I want them to be clean. This is the time we need to give them a chance to clean up and just maybe get to the point where they have clarity in mind. Maybe they think, “You know what? I want more out of this life.” There are two things here. If drugs are making it into the jail, and I know they do, I want to know how. Then when they do get that clarity, just maybe, I want them to think about something better for their life. I want to connect them with the programs to help them achieve that.

Tell me about the seven individuals that we will meet who are going undercover. 

They were from all walks of life. I think we had a pretty good mix in there that could give me their individual perspectives, which was important. One of the things I did was watch a couple of seasons of this, so I knew what to expect. One of the things I noticed is they always have the tapout signal. From watching, it appeared that the signal got abused. It was used more as “I need a time out, I need to get out of here.”

That didn’t sit well for me. The reality is if you’re in jail, you’re in jail. It doesn’t matter if you want to get a timeout to get out of that environment. One of the things with this group is we brought them all together. I wanted them to know who each other was because I didn’t want them to waste time figuring it out. I wanted them to focus on the mission of being a team and work together and achieve their mission. With the tapout, we flat-out told them it’s not to be a crutch. That if you use it, you’re out and done.

A&E

Was that something you had recommended or something decided upon based on the past? 

We discussed it together.

Did you think this drove home the seriousness of what they were about to do? 

I think it did and was a shock to them. It drove home the importance of completing their mission. We wanted them to be successful more than anything. We worked with them and gave them any advice they asked for and got their mindset in the right place. That they were in this for 60 days, and we’d see them on the other side of it.

What can you tell us about how the season unfolds? 

The information that we got from it was good. There were things that came out of it that I needed to hear and see. We made changes to our facility. This was the whole point. Another factor for me doing this was is I didn’t want to be stagnant. As I sit down and contemplate, if I’m saying no or my staff is saying no to this opportunity because we are afraid of what may come from this season or what these participants may find, then that is not a reason to say no.

If there are things they will find that maybe we don’t shed the best light on our facility, that’s the reason to do it. I want to be progressive. I think if you get to a point in your career where you’re not willing to look at things at how to become better, then it’s time to step aside and let someone else do it. I’m not to that point. There are things that come out this season that we need to change, and we’ve made a commitment to do that. Some things we have already changed. There was some good information brought back to us.

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Do those embedded run into dangerous situations where the officers may have to intervene? 

There were a couple. Those are things you’ll probably have to wait and see.

Now that you’ve gone through this, would you recommend this for other jails? 

I would if the facility truly wants to improve. It is a process. It is not something to take lightly. If you do it, you’re in it. It’s a process to be involved in, but if you really want a deep dive into your facility, this is a good way to do it. I’m glad we did it and were able to make these changes. I needed to see this and the daily operations.

60 Days In Season 9 premiere, May 30, 9/8c, A&E