Rainy weather didn't stop Madera County Director of Corrections Manuel Perez and many others from celebrating the dedication of a new multi-million dollar expansion to the jail Friday.
"The exciting part is just being able to keep people in custody," said Perez.
Lieutenant Jerry King says prison realignment has caused Madera Counties inmate population to rise. Making the one hundred and forty four new beds and additional buildings added by the project critical to their future.
"Our capacity is sitting right at our border capacity of four-nineteen and floating between four hundred and forty and four-forty five. So this need is a real big one right now," said King.
Beyond just increasing capacity, eight new jobs will be added as part of the expansion and the jail will also begin using a new state of the art video visitation system.
The system will charge visitors a fee to connect through the internet with inmates. Another step, Perez hopes, towards making the Madera County Jail a jail of the future.
