MIAMI (AP) - With prisons getting increasingly crowded, Florida is preparing to house inmates in tents.

Numbers released Thursday by the government confirmed what state officials already knew, prisons are getting squeezed for space, with Florida locking up more new inmates last year than any other state.

Government statistics show the overall Florida prison population increased by 5,250 inmates in 2007. The growth is more than twice the number of the next closest state, Kentucky. The state's current prison population is now nearing 100,000 inmates.

So far, the state has set up 36 tents in prisons around the state. The tents, which cost $9,000 each, are not yet being used. They can each house up to 22 prisoners.


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