Texas could reduce its prison population by easing drug laws and sentences, said State Rep. Elliot Naishtat, D-Austin, at a Capitol press conference Tuesday.

"The biggest contributing factor to the burgeoning prison population -- both nationwide and in Texas -- has been crimes of possession or low-level dealing," said Naishtat, adding that the number of drug offenders in prison doubled between 1990-2000 and has cost taxpayers more than $5 billion annually.

Naishtat's announcement comes on the heels of a study released in December by the Justice Policy Institute that reveals the United States is second to Russia in the number of people behind bars. The institute, a nonprofit, Washington D.C.-based organization that aims to decrease the number of those incarcerated, estimated that the current population of U.S. prisons rose to 2 million Tuesday.

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