BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. -- The Broome County jail currently houses 531 inmates, just four away from its maximum capacity.
As a result, administrators have been forced to take drastic measures.
"We currently have 29 individuals who are boarded out of county at great expense on a day to day basis," said Major Mark Smolinsky, jail administrator.
Jail officials say sending an inmate to another county costs them nearly $80 a day, a bill that taxpayers foot. But a new $5.5 million expansion is set to put an end to that trend.
"With the expansion and the changes, we'll be able to bring our inmates back and probably bring a few inmates in from the federal government, and we'll start to make money to offset our costs," said Broome County Sheriff David Harder.
The jail now expects to house 600 inmates, nearly 70 more than it could previously hold. Part of this expansion included converting a former gymnasium into a dormitory and creating a new medical center housing 28 inmates at a time.
While the jail experienced two inmate deaths in the past month, Harder says even the new medical center wouldn't have prevented them.
"I don't get into how people die here, but one case here or two a little while ago, nothing was going to save that person. Anyone that's in the medical field who knows what the person had will tell you that," said Harder.
The new dormitory will house 48 inmates and offer a divider through the middle, which will greatly help corrections officers separate individuals that might have had a prior history.
"Sometimes it's hard to separate out people who are involved in the same cases. In some of these larger cases, this gives us the flexibility to do those things as well," said Smolinsky.
Jail administrators hope the new expansion will provide a safer experience both for the inmates and themselves.
Harder expects to officially welcome inmates into the jail in December. That decision still lies in the hands of the state.