By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal

goliver@upstatetoday.com

CENTRAL — Pickens County sheriff Rick Clark shared photos of the county’s new detention center currently under construction with members of Pickens United at their meeting Monday in Central Town Council chambers, saying he is pleased with how the project is coming along.

“They’ve done some great work with all the weather we’ve had,” Clark said.

Groundbreaking for the new facility, located on South Catherine Street in Pickens, took place last winter, and construction is scheduled for completion in April. The 83,400-square-foot facility will house 316 beds, which Clark said will address the longstanding issue of overcrowding at the existing facility, built in 1974.

“We’re allowed 93 by the (South Carolina) Department of Corrections and hit 253 a couple of weeks ago,” Clark said. “We’re a little over 200 and haven’t seen 150 in years. That’s a lot of stress — not only on us,

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