SALEM AND ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Jails across the country and even in our area have seen a drastic increase in inmates.
The Vera Institute of Justice released a report detailing jail growth since 1970.
Recommended Videos
One of those is Rockbridge County. It's seen an increase from an average of 11 inmates a day in 1970 to 56 in 2014.
The Rockbridge Regional Jail is overcrowded and Tony McFaddin from the Rockbridge County Sheriff's Office says it's because of a growing drug problem.
"It used to be a geographical thing where you would buy meth and saw meth at one end of the county or the other but n ow it's pretty much spread from one end to the other," says Mcfaddin.
Other localities seeing an increase include Franklin County. For example it went from an average daily population of 14 inmates in 1970 to 72 in 2014.
Roanoke County went from an average of 21 inmates a day in 1970 to 552 in 2014.
However those localities aren't facing an overcrowding issue since Roanoke County, Franklin, Montgomery, and Salem send inmates to the Western Virginia Regional Jail.
"We were designed to handle the overcrowding of those four municipalities that's what our purpose was and what our goal was in April 2009 when we opened," says Bobby Russell, superintendent, Western Virginia Regional Jail.
If the regional jail was to reach its capacity, it was designed for future expansion.