Photo Essay Shows Life Inside the FLDS Community in Hildale, Utah

Known collectively as Short Creek, the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, sit on the border of their respective states and have a total population of about 8,000. Most residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The source describes the area as the largest polygamist enclave in America.

For generations, FLDS leadership has held broad control over the towns, according to the source, selecting mayors, city council members and even town marshals without issue.

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating allegations that the two towns have violated residents’ civil rights. The allegations include that the church used public officials to force members who had left the faith, called “apostates” in FLDS terms, out of town; that utility hookups were denied to them; and that citizens were spied on. These are allegations under investigation, not findings. Protecting people who have little power to defend themselves is a matter of justice (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The source’s photographs show a community that has been built to be closed off. High walls were constructed around the city to keep it as closed as possible. Surveillance cameras are mounted on what appear to be public utility poles in Hildale. Over a door in Colorado City hangs a Zion sign marking a place of the “pure in the heart.”

Daily scenes in the photo essay include FLDS boys on horses tending sheep and calling out, “Get outta here!” In Hildale, children climb a fence at what was once a thriving community zoo.

The source also profiles young women who have recently left the FLDS church. Allie Steed is shown doing her hair while her friend Helen Holm watches. A 2012 photograph in Colorado City shows Steed, Helen Holm and Heidi Holm, the three women who had recently left the church.

A cemetery for children in Hildale includes a grave marker that reads “baby girl.”

The towns were also struck by a flash flood that killed 13 people in Hildale. Women and children gathered near the Short Creek Wash in Colorado City while the Utah National Guard and law enforcement searched for the last known victims. Women later arrived at a memorial in Hildale for the 13 victims of the flood.

Source: Read the original report