Bursting at the seams: Uncompromising pictures from inside America's overcrowded prison system show the cramped lives lived by more than two million inmates

• e-mail

Inmates are housed in a gymnasium at the California Institution for Men state prison in Chino, California. The Supreme Court has ordered California to release more than 30,000 inmates over the next two years

An inmate stands in his overcrowded cell at the Orange County jail in Santa Ana, California. The state's prisons are so overcrowded that they are said to provide inadequate mental and health care

Hundreds of prisoners at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California are also housed in makeshift living quarters in the prison's gymnasium

One inmate is forced to sleep next to phones where fellow prisoners make phone calls home at the Orange County jail

The Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, pictured, is another of those drastically overstretched by increased prisoner numbers

Prisons have had to reduce the amount of time that inmates are spending in public spaces such as the cafeteria or the exercise yard, pictured

A makeshift living space for prisoners doubles up as a recreation area at this prison in Chino, California, with a group of inmates using the bed as a poker table

Prisoners at the Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, seem unfazed despite having to bunk in threes, but the Supreme Court disagrees ruling that such overcrowding is 'unconstitutional'

It is feared that prisoners living in such proximity as those pictured could lead to clashes and violence between inmates behind bars

This prison, the Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, which houses murderers, child molesters, thieves and other criminals, is one of the most overcrowded in California. Some inmates have to share triple bunk beds in large public areas (pictured)

A rare moment of solitude for this inmate at the overcrowded Orange County jail in Santa Ana, California. Prisons in the US are their most stretched in terms of capacity since 2004

With the American prison system bursting at the seams, these inmates have their work cut trying to sort the ever growing piles of laundry caused by increasing inmate numbers

This inmate talks on the phone to a loved one in a crowded gymnasium area at a California prison, but he could soon be back at home with his family with shortened sentences one possible way to cope with unprecedented release numbers

Wardens warn that less time in recreational areas such as this yard at a California jail coupled with an increased lack of privacy for prisoners could lead more inmates to lash out

This prisoner in Chino tries to make the most of the relative open space of the exercise yard, but is still surrounded by fellow convicts

This tattooed prisoner at the California Institution for Men state prison in Chino makes the most of stretching out, but the picture shows how close together the beds are