The prison population in Iowa has increased 112 percent in the last 10 1/2 years, according to figures from January 1990 to last Friday, an Iowa prison official said.

In 1990 the Iowa Department of Corrections had 3,800 inmates incarcerated in its facilities, said public information officer Ted Nelson. Currently, the Iowa Department of Corrections has 8,065 inmates in the system - a 4,265 increase.

"The prison population in Iowa has gone up," Nelson said. "One thing we're trying to do is take a look at the sentencing laws to divert non-violent offenders - property offenders, drug offenders and other low risk offenders - not the type of people that would normally be put into high security prisons. They would be better treated in the community."

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