Despite sending out an overflow of inmates to other prisons, Schuylkill County's jail is filling up again, especially with women.

The county Prison Board last week discussed plans to send women inmates to a prison in Centre County that uses the same health care provider as Schuylkill.Details are still being worked out to send the inmates to Centre County's prison at Bellefonte.Last week, Schuylkill County's jailed housed 63 women inmates, up from 56 at the end of March.The overall population on Wednesday hit 292. Forty-six inmates were jailed three to a cell, including 10 women.The total population on March peaked at 309, said Warden Eugene Berdanier.The county is trying to comply with the state Department of Correction's order to cut down on the number of inmates triple-celled.It has been housing male inmates at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility, Delaware County, at a cost of $65 a day each, and women at the state Correctional Institution at Muncy, Lycoming County, at a cost of $60 a day each.As of Wednesday, 26 men were at the Delaware County prison and one woman was at Muncy.It costs Schuylkill $44.23 to house each inmate in its own jail each day.The diversion program is a short-term solution the county will use as it works on a permanent solution to the overcrowding problem.The aging prison, on Sanderson Street in Pottsville, has an "ideal" capacity of 250 inmates, but can hold 277.Commissioners about 10 years ago ended a plan to build a center near the state prison in West Mahanoy Township because it would have cost too much.The county has also launched the pre-release program that involves electronic monitoring and strict supervision of some qualified inmates in order to relieve overcrowding.The growing drug epidemic is to blame for the overcrowding. The county plans to launch a special drug court by early next year to help alleviate the problem. The court would use treatment as opposed to jail.