ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County leaders had hoped for some assistance in expanding the county jail, but Commissioner J.P. Dutton confirmed Thursday that the project was not selected among the grant recipients through the Ohio Department of Corrections.

“I think our next move will be to continue to try to see if this program is (available). There should be yearly submissions that will continue on, so we plan to submit again in the future. There’s a lot of need across the state. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars in requests to a $50 million program currently, so the needs far outweigh the grant funding possible, but we’ll keep working towards it. We know long-term that there needs to be work at the jail in terms of space for inmates,” he said.

Jail overcrowding was a major concern prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the 144-bed facility sometimes housing almost 200 inmates and spurring the commissioners to begin housing inmates outside of the county at a cost. This program of housing inmates at other jails continues.

“In the meantime, things are operating very well. We’re able to utilize our county neighbors and partners in order to house inmates out of the county. We’re very grateful for that, and it’s working well, but we know long-term that the jail may need addressed,” Dutton said.

Officials have noted some of the factors behind the explosion of inmates include more mental health and substance abuse issues and a higher percentage of female offenders.

“We currently have a 144-bed facility. One design that we were working on was looking at 330 beds. That may be a little on the high side. We’ve talked to them about reducing those beds potentially, so that’s something we’re all still considering,” Dutton said.

However, prices for such a project have also increased.

“We do have an actual design that was worked on as far back as right before the pandemic began. That estimate was around $24 million,” Dutton said. “We had the plan looked at again this fall because we were applying for this grant program and the costs had escalated to more like around $35 million, so those costs are growing by the day and that is one area of concern. How big of a project and can we handle it? So those are all things that will continue to be evaluated as we look at options moving forward.”