With U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reporting the number of United States prisoners surpassing more than 2 million people, Michigan judicial departments are working to offer more creative sentencing.

Some states have been pushing judges, prosecutors and community members to create community program alternatives for would-be prisoners who are nonviolent and first-time offenders. Examples of alternatives include community service, parole and tethers.

In Michigan, the alternatives seem to be working.

In a 2003 report, Patricia Caruso, director of Michigan Department of Corrections, warned that if Michigan's prisoner population continued growing at past rates, it would exceed capacity by January this year.

But according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report, Michigan was one of the dozen states with a decline in overall prison population in 2004 - falling almost 2 percent during the past year to 48,591 inmates.

A combination of fewer prison admissions and more releases contributed to a decrease in overall prison population between 2000 and 2003.

At the beginning of April, there were about 1,500 extra prison beds, said Leo Lalonde, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

When there are concerns about crowding, Lalonde said the corrections department works with various courts to push more prisoners who are straddling the line between prison time and service work out into the community.

But as programs expand in Ingham county, with the support of state and federal funding, many citizens across the county do not support the alternatives because they do not want prisoners in their communities, said Susan LeDuc, Ingham County assistant prosecutor.

"That's always an issue of tension," she said.

But one of the reasons alternatives are attractive is the money saved - with each prisoner costing the state about $29,000 per year, it costs considerably less for a judge to find an alternative, Lalonde said.

"He'll give him community sanctions instead of taking up an expensive prison bed," he said.

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Beverly Nettles-Nickerson said she receives a report daily that alerts her to jail and prison overcrowding. Rarely does that report say there isn't a problem, she said.

"I hope we can answer this because it's ongoing," Nettles-Nickerson said.

She said the discussion needs to be open about suggested alternatives such as residential programs.

Although many of her decisions are affected by the crowding situation in Ingham County, every effort is made to deliver justice, Nettles-Nickerson said.

"Sometimes punitive measures are warranted for them to do the time for the crime," she said.