Carbon County officials officially recognized 24 additional beds that were built four years ago by inmates to accommodate the influx of residents at the prison.

On Wednesday, the county prison board officially increased the total capacity at the Broad Mountain prison to 247, up from the 223 that it had previously been.

The total number of beds that have been in the facility in recent years has not changed though.

Warden Timothy Fritz said the state inspection, completed on Nov. 16, recommended that action should be taken to increase the capacity because of the 12 double bunks that had been built in 2013 to accommodate more inmates.

He said the bunks are spread out between the three dorm-style units — special housing unit, work release and female work release.

“This (action) will help us with total compliance of the inspection,” he said, noting that the prison population as of Wednesday was 208.

Carbon County prison inmates built the bunks in 2013 after then Warden Joseph Gross looked into purchasing an additional 18 bunk beds but the cost came in at more than $11,000.

Instead, the prison spent approximately $3,400 on raw materials from the Kovatch Corporation and the inmates, including one who was a welder, constructed the bunks.

Kovatch, at that time, replicated every aspect of the bunk beds the county was originally looking to purchase for the materials.

In a related matter, Fritz said that there were a few issues in the language of the prison’s policies that had to be updated as a result of the state inspection.

He said that he made the changes and sent them back to the state to be signed off.