CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio’s prison population isn’t growing as rapidly as officials expected, though the state still has thousands more inmates than its system was designed to accommodate.

Ohio had just under 50,600 prisoners in January, nearly 1,000 fewer inmates than the state expected last summer, the Northeast Ohio Media Group reported.

State officials had estimated the inmate population would grow to nearly 53,500 by 2019, well above the roughly 38,600-inmate capacity of the state’s 28 prisons, and the prisons director had mentioned the possibility of having to release inmates early to make room for new ones.

But the increase in the prison population has been slower than projected, partly because of a decrease in violent crime and because of funding and legislative changes that encourage prison alternatives, such as community-based corrections programs, said JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

A new state law made it easier to move inmates to a transitional control program. The state budget provided funding for about 400 new beds at halfway houses and community-based correctional facilities. State grants to county courts also encouraged alternatives to prison.

Mike Brickner, senior policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, credits Republican Gov. John Kasich’s administration with taking “moderate steps” to support rehabilitation programs and other community alternatives. Brickner said he has “guarded optimism” about the slower-than-expected growth in inmate numbers but said the prison population remains too large and more funding is needed for alternative sentencing and rehabilitation.