The EPA contains a four-step approach to reduce prison overcrowding. In the first step, if the inmate population of either the female or male prison system exceeds capacity for 30 consecutive days, the Corrections Commission is required to request the Governor to declare a state of emergency in that system. In the Second step, the Governor is required to declare a prison overcrowding state of emergency, unless it is found that the commission acted in error. Upon the declaration of emergency, the minimum sentences of all inmates in the system with established minimum terms are reduced by 90 days by the director of the Department of Corrections. Inmates with flat sentences do not receive reductions in their sentences. In the third step, if the first sentence reduction does not reduce the inmate population to 95 percent of capacity within 90 days of the date of the emergency declaration, the minimum terms of all inmates are reduced by 90 days in the same manner as the first reduction. In the final step, if the inmate population is reduced to 95 percent of capacity or if 180 days have elapsed since the emergency declaration, the commission is required to certify this fact to the Governor and request that the Governor rescind the state of emergency. The authors conclude that the EPA is the least problematic approach for reducing prison overcowding over the short term. Forty-one notes are listed.