AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ An expansion aimed at relieving overcrowding in the Kennebec County jail is moving forward.
Kennebec County Commissioners have approved spending for engineering plans to add beds to the Kennebec County Correctional Facility in Augusta.
Interim Sheriff Ryan Reardon tells the Kennebec Journal that 24 beds and bathroom facilities for inmates would be created by converting the jail's indoor recreation area. That addition would increase the jail's capacity from 147 to 171, but even then there could still be some overcrowding.
The $35,000 engineering study will pave the way for construction, which is expected to take about nine months once the project is under way.