The nation saw 61,534 people incarcerated as of the end of 2003, topping the 60,000 mark for the first time since 1960.

According to the Justice Ministry's 2004 white paper on crime, released Friday, the nation's prisons were at 116.6 percent of capacity, the worst figure since the government began keeping records of capacity ratios in 1972.

If the number of new inmates continues to increase at the current pace, the inmate population could top 66,000 at the end of 2007, the report says.