Riverside Regional Jail, which is nearly as crowded as Richmond City Jail, plans to expand by roughly two-thirds -- a move that will just about end its current overcrowding.
Meanwhile, Richmond is working on coming up with the money to replace its aging facility.
Riverside plans to begin its $89 million expansion project in October and aims to complete the two new housing units, with a total of 480 beds, by late 2009, said Capt. Douglas Upshaw with the regional jail authority.
Riverside, at 1000 River Road in Hopewell, is designed to handle 736 inmates. It now holds more than 1,200.
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The decade-old jail handles inmates from Charles City, Chesterfield, Prince George and Surry counties and Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg. It's paying for the expansion by selling bonds.
Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder has promised to replace the city's jail with a facility designed to handle 1,600 to 2,000 inmates. The city now houses 1,500 to 1,600 inmates in a facility meant for 882.
"This is a big-ticket item and it is going to require some very innovative financing," said acting Chief Administrative Officer Harry Black.
He said the city is actively seeking agreements with potential partners, since the state covers half the cost of a regional jail but only 25 percent of a city or county facility. Black said the city hopes to launch new programs to reduce the number of people in jail, as well.
"We're moving forward with all dispatch," he said.
Overcrowding is a problem across the state: Even Chesterfield County, which opened a new jail last year, already is holding more inmates there than the facility was meant to handle. As with many localities, Chesterfield operates its own jail and sends inmates to a regional facility as well.
Henrico County's sheriff plans to ask the county for funds to study an expansion of its jails, which now house 66 percent more men and women than they were designed to.
"The only undercrowded jails I'm aware of in Virginia are the ones that are under construction," said Henrico Undersheriff Merle Bruce.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.
