The Bay County Jail is nearing completion.

Construction began on the new jail next to the existing annex in March of last year and in just over a year it's taking shape.

The goal in building was to have the county in compliance will all federal regulations, and once complete the jail will be.

It' just under 179,000 square feet and will add 688 beds to the 400 that are already on site. Something unique about the jail is that it was designed to hold 130 percent of its capacity, meaning that when the jail population grows so can the jail.

The county wanted to build not only for the present but also for the future.

Bob Majka, Assistant County Manager, said, "Over the next 20 years that'll actually allow us to grow to over 1,400 beds, so that as the community grows and the jail population grows along with that we'll have the space and facilities to handle that growth over the next 20 years."

The expansion has several securities feature including separate booking facilities for male and female inmates.

There is also a new road being built to access the jail annex, something of major importance to the county commission.

Majka said that construction is on time and on budget.