EVANGELINE PARISH, La. (KLFY) -- Following issues of overpopulation, the Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office is ready to move forward with their plans of a new jail.

Charles Guillory, Evangeline Parish Sheriff, said, "Our current jail only holds about 72 and that's it. And we're actually housing 70 more to maybe 80."

Bryan Vidrine, Evangeline Parish Police Jury President, expressed that plans for a new jail have been made.

"Driving the cost of our out of town expenses," Vidrine said. "We saw the need, it was approved, and we came up with a plan to make a new jail."

Relocating from the Evangeline Parish Courthouse, the new Evangeline Parish jail is set to be located on Maxie Rae Blvd, built on 10 acres and increasing the amount of inmates from 72 to 140, an increase that wouldn't be possible at it's current location.

"We just don't have the room in our facility at the courthouse to expand so it just makes the best sense to do what we did," Vidrine said. "We had the 10 acres available so it's just a win win for the parish."

The new facility also makes room for more than just a male inmate population.

"We're going to have 20 women's cells," Guillory said.

Also an additional 10 cells specifically for juvenile offenders.

"That's going to be segregated from the men, we'll have 10 maximum security cells also," Guillory said. "And everybody will do everything from their dorm. Nobody is going to be able to mix with the general population whatsoever."

And with all plans approved, Sheriff Guillory looks forward to the groundbreaking of the new jail in early 2023.