Guidroz said the current parish jail which houses 240 inmates was perfect at the time it was built, but said it just isn't enough for modern day.

ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- In St. Landry Parish, the construction of an inmate trustee dormitory sets the goal of reducing the ongoing issue of overcrowding in the parish jail.

"Its adequate, it's very well constructed, they did a great job with their planning," St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said. "I like the floor plan, and I like what it'll do for us."

Guidroz said the current parish jail which houses 240 inmates was perfect at the time it was built, but said it just isn't enough for modern day.

With the jail constantly reaching capacity, Guidroz said Parish President Jessie Bellard acquired a building next door to the jail which is being remodeled to house 60 of the jail's trustee inmates.

Opening up 60 additional spaces for inmates will help minimize the cost of sending inmates out of the parish.

"We have issues with parish government having to take the brunt of the issue to pay for out of parish inmates," Guidroz said. "So, when my jail is at capacity, we're mandated to send these inmates to another facility in another parish."

As the new facility nears completion, Guidroz said housing the trustees in the dorms will not eliminate all expenses for inmates, but it's a much-needed step in the right direction.

"At least 60 will be removed from the total population in the jail," he said. "It is not going to be quite enough, but it'll help. I'll have to hire additional manpower to man the facility, but it's going to relieve some stress on parish government by letting us put our trustees in that facility."

Guidroz said the plan is to have the new dorms ready for trustees to move into in February.

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