The number of Georgia Prisoners has gone up as money for locking them up is going down.

According to new numbers from the U.S. bureau of Justice Statistics Georgia’s prisoner population went up by 1.2 percent in 2009.

The state houses over 53 thousand 371 prisoners and has the 5th largest prison system in the country.

In the upcoming state budget, however, the Department of Correction has a $24 million dollar cut. 12 million of that will be covered by temporary federal stimulus dollars.

The other $12 million officials say will be saved by closing older prisons that are expensive to operate. Georgia has also closed 3 probation centers.

Half of all U.S. states saw a decrease in their prison population; most Southern states, however, now house more prisoners.

Tags: Georgia, Atlanta, Department of Corrections, Prison Population