American Samoa wants to build a new jail to house a growing male prison population.
The pending budget for the U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Insular Affairs includes a request for a million US dollars in funding for the construction of a building at the overcrowded Territorial Correction Facility in Pago Pago.
The new two-story building will have the capacity to accommodate another 100 inmates.
The courts in American Samoa have long voiced concerns at overcrowding at the territory's only jail, which was built to house only 100 inmates but is current holding more than 150.
