Short-term measures for dealing with prison overcrowding include the conversion of three military camps to temporary prisons, increased remission of 12-month sentences from one-third to one-half, and the use of police cells for temporary accommodation. Long-term measures are to reduce the demand for remand places through basic hostel schemes and by applying custody time limits in criminal trials, to encourage the use of community-based sentences, and to expand the capacity of the prison system. In the latter area, spending on prison construction rose by 100 percent between 1978-79 and 1987-88. New prisons are designed to facilitate interaction between inmates and staff. There are major renovations and modernization programs underway at almost all the local prisons. The entire building program is being supervised by a Prison Building Board that includes private-sector members. The "Fresh Start" initiative has as one of its primary purposes the establishment of a management system that will allow inmates to retain community ties, keep them out of their cells, and be occupied in constructive tasks. Other policy issues discussed in this article pertain to increased staff, inmate vocational training and education, support for special inmate groups, young offenders, women inmates with babies, life-sentence inmates, special units, inmates with AIDS, mentally ill inmates, suicide risks, drug abusers, inmate welfare needs, prerelease employment and training, family ties, and early release.