COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (WOWO) – The Whitley County Sheriff’s Department welcomed the community to an open house for its brand-new jail.

Sheriff Jason Spencer spoke about the necessity for the new facility, stating, “We started to outgrow our needs, and we’re one of the oldest jails in the state of Indiana that has not updated lately.”

With a price tag of $34 million, the new jail spans approximately 58,000 square feet and includes a courtroom for inmate hearings, according to our partners in news at 21 Alive.  In addition to housing inmates, the facility will feature a Jail Chemical Addiction Program (JCAP), aimed at providing support for mental health and substance abuse, which boasts an 80% success rate in preventing recidivism.