Come August, a major expansion will begin at the Anderson County Jail in Clinton.
208 beds will be added to the facility to help alleviate the ongoing overcrowding problem.
As of Tuesday evening, there were 341 inmates in the jail which has only 226 beds.
"Our female section has 48 beds; this morning we had 83 females. So you can see we don't have adequate beds," said Jailer Captain Larry Davidson.
It's been an ongoing discussion between Anderson County Commission, its mayor, and other leaders for the expansion. Captain Davidson said the surge in inmates all stems from one thing: drugs.
"95% to 96% of it is drug related -- whether it's ephenamine or prescription drugs," he added.
However, Anderson County isn't the only county that's experiencing tight quarters in jails. Some counties, like Morgan and Cumberland Counties are near capacity in their individual jails. Others, like Monroe and Jefferson Counties, are over their capacity.
Monroe County has 195 inmates using 138 beds; Jefferson County has 278 inmates in a 188-bed jail.
"Another problem we have is the penitentiaries are so overcrowded, we can't get them to take the state inmates off our hands because we don't have bedspace for them," the captain said.
The Anderson County Jail was under a "Plan of Action" from the state, meaning if they didn't take steps to solve their overcrowding problem -- the facility could lose their certification.
The new construction is the second of two phases for jail expansion. The first phase, for low-risk inmates, will open in September.