The often-overcrowded Buchanan County Jail could be expanded by turning an indoor gym into a dormitory. Undersheriff Bill Puett says additional beds would help manage a sometimes difficult population. He says the jail is like a small city and some who live there are not nice people.

Puett says the county has sent out requests for proposals to convert the little-used gym into a dorm for 40 to 50 inmates. He says more choices about where to place inmates would help comply with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, keep violent inmates away from others, and make the jail safer for everyone.