If Pennsylvania's state prison system was a city, it would rank right below Lancaster (No. 8) and above Altoona (No.9) in size. There were 51,326 prisoners in state prisons at the end of 2009, and the number keeps rising, despite a drop in crime nationally and locally. According to the Pew Center on the States, the increase in Pennsylvania prisoners is bucking a national trend. Other states have seen the number of prisoners decline -- and Pennsylvania is taking advantage of that decline. It is shipping 2,000 Pennsylvania inmates to empty cells in Virginia and Michigan because it simply has no more room for incoming inmates. The system has 7,700 more prisoners than capacity and the state is building three new prisons to meet demand.