Prodded by continued growth in North Dakota's prison population, state corrections officials are proposing some new alternatives to locking up inmates.

They include making agreements with regional facilities to house prisoners, including a proposed jail and drug treatment center in Rugby, and hiring more drug and alcohol counselors, said Elaine Little, director of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Bolstering the state prison system's ability to provide drug and alcohol treatment should result in inmates being eligible for parole more quickly, Little said. Some are denied parole now because the prison system has been unable to provide treatment, she said.

The change should also help situations when a former inmate is sent back to prison because of a parole violation, she said.

"In almost every case, this is because of an addiction problem," she said. "If we can get them treated again … and get them back on track, it will get people out quicker, and save beds."

Gov. John Hoeven is considering which of the alternatives to include in his budget recommendations to the Legislature.

At the behest of lawmakers, an architectural firm is also studying a $29 million plan to add more than 120 prison beds by tearing down an ancient cell house at the Bismarck penitentiary and constructing more space, including an infirmary and cells reserved for troublesome inmates.

North Dakota's prison system now has just over 1,000 beds, including the main Bismarck penitentiary, the minimum-security Missouri River Correctional Center in rural Bismarck, and the James River Correctional Center at Jamestown.

The number of male inmates averaged 1,167 during September, or 10 percent higher than lawmakers estimated when they wrote the corrections department's current two-year budget. The system had an average of 129 women inmates during the same month, six more than had been expected.

During the state's next two-year budget period, which begins July 1, the number of both male and female inmates is forecast to increase by 5.6 percent annually.

Contract agreements to provide residential drug and alcohol treatment to inmates could save as many as 25 beds in the state prison system each month, corrections department estimates say.

Relapse programs, which would provide treatment to inmates whose parole had been revoked because of drug or alcohol violations, could cancel out the need for 17 beds, estimates say.

Other initiatives, including keeping inmates with short sentences on a home-monitoring program rather than in a lockup, could save as many as 70 beds each month, the department's data says.

"We hope these (initiatives) can have a positive impact on the inmate population, where we think we're going to reduce the number of people that we need to … be responsible for housing," said Dave Krabbenhoft, the corrections department's fiscal director.

Little said in almost every case, the alternative ideas are less expensive than putting inmates in the prison system, county jails or a private prison outside the state.

"Even though there is cost … associated with the new programs, it's less than if we just house them," she said.