WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — After more than a year of consideration, Wood County Commissioners are moving forward with plans to expand the county's jail.
The need for more space comes for two different reasons; more prisoners detoxing and more long-term female beds.
"We're dealing with the welfare of people who have been arrested. We have to make sure they're in a clean, safe healthy environment," said Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn.
Commissioners recently asked two architectural firms to present costs and layouts of the expansion, with the entire project costing roughly $17 million.
No new taxes will be assessed for the expansion
The county recently expanded a smaller section of the jail which allows them to house prisoners from other counties. Once this expansion is finished, the county will be able to house more females and rent beds to other counties
"Yes there are a lot of reform jail things going on to help reduce the length of time people are in jail and working on other sentencing things, but unfortunately there are always going to be people that need to be in jail," said Sheriff Wasylyshyn.
The Wood County Commissioners are expected to review the options for this expansion and make a decision within the next couple of weeks.