Arizona is one of the fastest growing states in the nation, and overflowing state prisons are a by product of that growth, said Katie Decker, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Decker and James O'Neil, special assistant to ADOC Director Dora Schriro, were in Safford recently to talk about overcrowding in Arizona's state prisons and the department's need for an additional $14.155 million to operate the prisons during the 2007-08 fiscal year.

"We have more inmates coming in than we do going out," O'Neil said.

According to the ADOC, 19,853 inmates were admitted to Arizona's state prisons during the 2006 fiscal year. In comparison, 17,904 inmates were released after serving an average of 20 months.

The admissions included 9,613 new court commitments; 6,607 whose county probations were revoked; 3,086 whose ADOC paroles were revoked, and 547 classified as "other."

There were 35,932 inmates in Arizona's prisons on Feb. 28 — 15 percent over the capacity of 31,245. ADOC officials would like to see the inmate population at 95 percent of capacity — 29,683.

The ADOC has come up with a couple of ways to accommodate the influx of inmates. The department has found space to set up 1,386 temporary beds in the state's prisons, including the Safford complex. Some of those temporary beds are in tents, although, there are no prisoners housed in tents at Safford, Decker said.

The ADOC also has contracts with other states for provisional beds. The contracts are for one year and are subject to change when the year is up.

"We're at the whim and fancy of whom we're contracted with," Decker said.

Arizona inmates are sent to Oklahoma and as far away as Indiana.

"What we prefer is not to send any inmates out of state," O'Neil said.

Sending inmates out of state is a negative impact on their education and job training because programs in other states may not be the same programs offered to inmates in Arizona. Moving inmates to another state also poses a hardship on the inmates' families because they may not be able to visit a facility that is far from Arizona, O'Neil said.

Another solution would involve convicts whose sentences are one year or less being allowed to serve their sentences in county jails.

Decker said there is no law that allows convicts with short sentences to serve their time in county jails.

As of Feb. 28, nearly 10 percent of Arizona's prisoners — 3,145 — were women. Most of the convicts — 65.6 percent — were from Maricopa County. The remainder included 13.7 percent from Pima County, 3.1 percent from Pinal County and 17.6 percent classified as "other," according to the ADOC.

The most serious offenses that put people in prison are:

Violent crimes - 14,391

Property crimes - 9,540

Drugs - 6,881

Other, such as DUI or weapons possession - 5,120