New San Mateo County Women's Jail Now Open: PHOTOS

REDWOOD CITY, CA- A new women's jail opened over the weekend in San Mateo County, equipped with plenty of space to provide educational and training opportunities in an effort to reduce recidivism, officials say.

The Maple Street Correctional Facility, located at 1300 Maple St. in Redwood City, can house up to 832 inmates and is designed to reduce overcrowding, according to sheriff's officials.

Construction on the project began in 2007 as a replacement for the old women's jail.

The new jail has been designed to look like an office building, with plenty of natural light, "with a positive learning environment and less like a jail," sheriff's officials said in a news release.

"MSCC’s design in no way compromises safety or security," the agency added. "With a state of the art control center, advanced technology throughout, and superior building design provide Sheriff’s Office Correctional Officers with open sightlines of inmate housing areas and a more efficient operation."

The LEED-certified building has ample programming space that will be used for educational and training programs, aimed at providing inmates with skills that they can use once released from jail, sheriff's officials said.

"The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Maple Street Correctional Facility is a symbol of a new era," the department said. "We will focus our efforts to reduce recidivism by offering inmates with educational and training opportunities that will give them skills they can use to be better members of our community. This is corrections with compassion."

Take a look at some of the attached images of both the old and new jail.

— Bay City News Service contributed to this report.