The Montgomery County Commissioners Court has created a committee to examine how to expand a jail system that is nearing its maximum capacity.
Randy McDaniel, deputy chief for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said the inmate population has increased about 60 percent over the last eight years and is adding 10 more prisoners per day this year than last year. The jail is already nearing its maximum, McDaniel said, with about 1,240 beds of the maximum 1,253 beds already in use as of August.
McDaniel said the county is considering an expansion of the current jail of anywhere from one to four extra floors, with each floor capable of housing another 168 prisoners. Adding four floors could cost upwards of $18 million, he said, which does not count the personnel required to monitor the extra prisoners.
The county could also consider the creation of another jail with 1,200-1,500 beds, which McDaniel said could as much as $50 million.
