CDC projects that the State prison population will increase by almost 70 percent in the next 5 years. Much of this growth will be driven by the enactment of the Three Strikes and You're Out legislation. Building new State prisons to accommodate this growth will be both challenging and costly. The existing prisons were designed to house 66,000 inmates, but now hold 120,000 inmates. Additional prisons designed to house 14,000 inmates have been funded and are either under construction or ready for occupancy. If the State is to accommodate the inmate population increases, several billion dollars of State funding will be needed to finance the construction and operation of additional prisons. Essentially no funds are currently available to build new prisons. Although Federal grants should provide some assistance over the next few years, the State's costs for expanding and operating its prison system will require an increasing share of the State's budget. Figures