B.C.'s prisons are bursting at the seams, so the provincial government is adding 240 new cells to three existing jails.
Most of the new space will be built at two jails in Maple Ridge.
Solicitor General John Les says 135 cells will be added to the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre and 106 extra cells will be built at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women.
In Prince George, the women's unit at the regional correctional centre will be expanded with 20 new cells.
Les says the space is needed because B.C.'s inmate population has grown by more than 500 over the last three years and is increasing by about four per cent a year.
He says more people are ending up in jail because of increased policing leading to more criminal charges, and more offenders breaching bail conditions.
