The new jail (on the right) connects to the old jail (on the left) via a bridge across McDonough Street. The new facility, with its 700 bed capacity, brings the total capacity up to 1100.

That’s hard to believe, considering that for 30 years 1957-1986 our county jail capacity was only 154 inmates, and that in 1982 two separate jail experts declared that Montgomery County should have 230 beds tops. Maybe that was because the single greatest factor which determines how many people are in jail, is the size of the jail itself.  And operating jails is awfully expensive.

-Charles Humphries