The beds added to P.E.I.'s Provincial Correctional Centre at Sleepy Hollow last year are already filled to capacity on weekends, the province's justice minister said Monday.

Doug Currie said the provincial jail opened a new wing with 48 beds in August 2010 to ease overcrowding, but that it and the other wings are full on the weekends.

He blames a 30 per cent rise in admissions compared to last year. That increase was driven by the federal government's drive to lengthen prison sentences, he said.

"We anticipated a rise in the number of inmates we're responsible to house, but it's been a surprise that the intensity level that we're seeing is greater than we anticipated," Currie said.

Last week, Currie said the correctional centre at Sleepy Hollow was meant to house about 80 inmates full-time, with 48 beds designed to be used by weekend inmates. But those beds are being put into service to house full-time prisoners, and sometimes even those haven't been enough. There are 146 beds in the province, and at times they've been used to hold as many as 162 prisoners.

The Harper government has pledged to make longer sentences a priority in the next Parliament and that will likely add to the pressure on the jail.

A report from Parliament last year said P.E.I. would have to triple its budget for jails to between $32 million and $41 million a year. Currie said they are examining those numbers. The province will likely seek federal help to cover the costs of the increase in inmates.

"We anticipate our numbers are only going to rise, so conversations will need to be had to manage the responsibilities we have as a province in respect to our responsibilities in the constitution of the country," Currie said.

Currie said the P.E.I. government has notified Ottawa that it can no longer house federal female inmates in the provincial facility.

In the mean time, prison officials are taking a week by week approach to fitting everyone in.