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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah's prison census is at an all-time high.
The number of inmates reached a high of 6,327 this week, above the state's capacity of 63-hundred.
Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford says that's a record. He says the number of inmates entering the system is outpacing the number of inmates being released.
To accommodate increases, the department is adding bunk beds to dormitory housing at the prisons in Draper and Gunnison and has maxed-out the number of cells it leases from county jails.
Ford says the department is hoping to avoid having to ask Governor Jon Huntsman to authorize an early release of any inmates. That would only happen if the prison had more than 63-hundred inmates for forty-five consecutive days.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
