Draper was constructed in 1939 with a capacity for 600 first-time male felony offenders. Located in Elmore County on State Highway 143, the facility replaced the Speigner Reformatory. The current inmate population is housed in seven dormitory-style cellblocks and a 47-inmate capacity segregation unit.

Draper’s stated goal is to maintain an appropriate level of security that will eliminate escapes and present no dangerous threats to the community, while at the same time providing an adequate housing, education and productive work for the inmates. Each inmate has an assigned job within the institution, on a large farming operation, a furniture plant, or a vehicle garage.