GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — As soon as county supervisors approved the contract, Hall County Jail started housing state prisoners.

Six inmates were waiting in the jail’s sally port area as corrections director Fred Ruiz went downtown Tuesday to get the state contract OK’d and signed.

The state has been looking for ways to help relieve prison crowding. As of May 31, the state system was at 158 percent of capacity. Lawmakers passed legislation this spring that included authorization to house some of the overflow in county jails.

Ruiz told supervisors the state will pay $88 a day for each inmate and cover medical costs. He also says the state committed to place up to 100 prisoners at the jail in Grand Island.